The Cave
by ArmelleAgron
Summary: On their last summer's twilight, the Glee Club members go on a speleology expedition. But everything goes wrong... Or how can a week change everything. Main couples: Faberry/Brittana This fanfiction isn't mine. Rights go to "Pattate" and I'm only translating it from French to English.
1. The Descent

Genre: Romance/Angst

Rating: T

Pairing: Faberry/Brittana mainly (also Klaine and Tartie + mention of other couples)

Disclaimer: This fanfiction isn't mine and I don't own anything. All the rights go to "Pattate" who wrote it in French and I'm only translating. English isn't my first language so I apologize for any mistake I might have made. Enjoy!

* * *

The sun was just rising on the horizon and was appearing by intermittence between the immense pines that were planted on either sides of the road. The purple landscape almost seemed unreal and there was like magic in the air.

Brittany loved the morning.

Every new morning, it was like the entire world was starting all over again and all the bad events were deleted to be replaced by much better ones. The sky always looked new, illuminated by the orange and burgundy-colored radiance of the rising sun, and it was like the all nature was waking up from a long torpor. The leafs were softly whirring, troubled with the morning breeze, and some dew drops were crashing in the humid grass, glimmering in a golden radiance when the sun rays would finally reach them. The atmosphere could be foggy and chilly, but freshness perfume in the air would always warm the blonde's heart. She then forgot that she always was the local fool, no matter how hard she tried to improve her grade or her knowledge by watching the historic channel where they always play long reports in black and white on events she didn't even understand. Brittany didn't have many painful things to forget, she thought looking in the rear-view mirror with a tender smile, but she was always up to new things when she was waking up and the sun was barely arising from behind the hills. She felt like she could do anything and that no matter what obstacle would stand in her way, she would have the strength to overcome it.

She slowed down progressively and parked the car on the side of the road, being careful not to wheel on the pebbles. She turned on the indicator, and even though it was useless considering how desert the road was at this hour, she thought that all McKinley would be surprised to see simple-minded Brittany take this precaution. She opened the glove compartment, took a camera and turned around as slowly as she could, holding it immobile in front of her.

On the back seats, Quinn and Santana were dozing, and it was hard to believe that these two angels were once the reckless HBIC of McKinley. Quinn was resting against the steamed window, and the blonde's peaceful smile gave her a relaxed expression Brittany didn't see in a while. As for Santana, she progressively sprawled herself against the girl next to her, until she rested her head on her shoulder.

As she studied the tranquility on her face usually so expressive and animated, Brittany thought her heart was going to jump out of her chest. She had already seen her asleep, but leaned against Quinn like this, smiling like a child dreaming of the gifts they hope to get for Christmas, Brittany couldn't help but see them back three years ago, when the Unholy Trinity was still as united as the Three Musketeers and when they used to spend their weekends at Santana's, watching TV while talking about the last gossips in McKinley. Today, all of this was over.

With a sad smile, Brittany took a last picture of the two girls and put back the camera in the glove compartment. She made sure there was no-one coming on her right and pulled back the car on the road.

…

…

…

_"LOVE, LOVE I WANT YOUR LOVE!"_

Tina was trying not to stop looking at the road but the mishmash going on in the car was making it hard for her. She was starting to wonder why she got the idea to go with the four individuals that were her passengers.

"_You know that I want you…_" Kurt sung on the back seat clearly eye-sexing Blaine in the rear-view mirror.

"_…and you know that I need you!"_ The guy with triangular eyebrows answered.

"_CAUSE I'M A FREE BITCH BABY!"_ Artie shouted, and Tina almost went off the road.

_"I WANT YOUR LOVE AND I WANT YOUR REVENGE!" _They all started to sing their head off, and when she was sure to be on the road again, Tina joined them happily.

It was only 7am and yet they all felt as in top form as the day they left, the day before. They barely slept, and now that it was her turn to drive, Tina was congratulating herself for taking a nap around 2am, while the others were discussing joyfully of who would play their CD next. Eventually, using his persuasion gift, Kurt was the one who managed to impose the compilation Blaine had given to him for Valentine's Day. To say that they didn't regret it in that very moment would be an euphemism. Artie took in charge to sing the French verses with a clumsiness and an accent that only his enthusiasm could equal, and Mercedes, followed on bawling an "_I DON'T WANNA BE FRIEEENDS!" _that emphasized the exhaustion her voice was clearly in.

"_RA-RA-AH-AH-AAAAH RUMA RUMA-MA GAGA OULALAAAH WANT YOUR BAD ROMANCE!"_

The inside of the car rung out with the singers' applause and they were barely done with congratulating themselves that Mercedes and Artie were already chanting "Again! Again!"

"Ha, too bad you weren't there when we sung it in Glee Club," Kurt said to Blaine, leaning back in his seat. "I never wore Alexander McQueen's with such elegance!"

"If you still have them, you can show them to me when we get back home!" The former Warbler answered with a smile.

Kurt looked at him with satisfaction before getting lost in the landscape contemplation. Artie and Mercedes seemed to be calm by now, but Tina could still hear them humming _Speechless, _that was now playing in the passenger compartment. Tiredness finally worked on the passengers. Pretty fast, they were all asleep and the brunette observed them amused in the rear-view mirror, sprawled against one another on the back seats. Blaine was dozing for an hour and seemed to be soundly asleep when Tina looked at him carefully. She took advantage of it to remove the compilation from the CD player, take it down on the dashboard et turn on the radio.

"… a rather hot sun is planned on the East coast, careful dear New Yorker drivers, don't let yourself be blinded! As for the rest of the United States, the weather should be mild! Indiana will have new records of temperature for the rest of the week, and the surroundings States will take full advantage of it! I'll leave you now with Jack! Jack, you're on, I let you wake up our auditors!"

A presenter with a rather annoying voice started to babble and Tina turned off the radio immediately. Only the engine's purring troubled the quiet silence.

…

…

…

Finn took the bend with diligence and glanced toward the young woman sat beside him, in the passenger seat. She was contemplating the landscape, as if the trees held an hidden interest. Her hands were sagely resting on her thighs, and Finn moved his own to take one. As soon as they touched, Rachel turned quickly her head toward him, and noticed his one and only hand holding the wheel.

"What are you doing?" She worried. "We are almost there, and even though I appreciate the irony in the idea to die right before reaching our destination, I've always wanted to die on stage, thus I admit that it would spoil my…"

"Rachel."

She seemed to calm down and took a deep breath to evacuate her stress.

"Sorry," she sighed. "You know how I get when I'm a bit anxious…"

Finn couldn't do anything but keep his eyes on the road, so he just squeezed her hand gently in his.

"You shouldn't be," he said with a smile. "The car is okay, the tires are well blown up, we stopped at the station to take gas like two hours ago and there's no chance for us to crash into someone here."

He was right. There was absolutely no car in sight. Rachel seemed to relax.

"I know but… I'm also worried about this expedition. I wasn't really in at first, considering it will take a week, when I need to practice more than ever if I want to reach my goals… NYADA doesn't take anybody..."

She stopped for a moment.

"Moreover," she continued on a quiet voice, "Shelby had finally accepted to give me singing lessons…"

Finn felt she was holding onto his hand, seeking for a patent emotion.

"And even if she accepted to postpone," she added turning her head to focus on the landscape, "I don't think it's very reasonable. I mean, speleology? I wasn't even able to climb correctly up the ladders in school, so it would totally be my type to stay stuck in the middle of a tunnel. And it's certainly not by singing for help that I will miraculously find a way to get out of there…" She finished on a dull tone.

The former Glee Club leader took the risk to turn his eyes away from the road for a few seconds and contemplate Rachel carefully.

"Rach, look at me."

The brunette turned her head from the landscape reluctantly and Finn noticed she was having a hard time holding back her tears.

"Brittany and I, we spent an entire month after the class ended in training."

"I know that, but…"

"No, listen to me," he cut her off. "I may only have my license for a month, but Brittany has been doing that for three years! And even if all McKinley is convinced she's stupid, I can assure you she's better than anyone else."

A smile formed on Rachel's lips as she thought of the adorable blonde.

The car was about to leave the road, so Finn focused back on it.

"Besides, you were here when we packed up?"

"Yes."

"You helped me check we had all the equipment?"

"Yes."

"And you're the one who forced me to take ten first aid kits, aren't you?"

"Yes, but I think you could have taken ten more." She said with a pout.

Finn couldn't help but laugh.

"What?" She rose up. "Don't laugh at me! We'll see if you still play smart when you'll be on the verge of death after having fallen in a crevice and there will be only me and my bandages to save you!"

"Admit that you're overreacting," he insisted with another laugh.

From the corner of her eyes, he could see Rachel look daggers into him before crossing her arms in a melodramatic way.

"Come on, you're not gonna pout for that!"

She loosened her grip and bounced from her seat to place a kiss on his cheek.

"I am sorry."

Finn could barely focus on the road, and Rachel realized it thanks to his struck dumb smile.

…

…

…

"Man, take off your feet from the dashboard!"

"What, Evans? This dustbin at least is ten years older than my mother; it's not by getting myself comfortable that I'm going to destroy it! Besides, I cleaned my shoes yesterday."

"Puck, seriously," Mike spoke, emerging from the back seat, "It's not cool."

Puck mumbled something before sitting back correctly, and Sam thanked him almost grudgingly.

"Not my fault if I need to relax a bit," the guy with a crest said, stretching with a moan. "We've been stuck in your car for a day, and Puckzilla likes life in the open air."

"Oh my God, and here I was thinking you gave up on this stupid nicknames after knocking Quinn up…" Mike said leaning back against his seat.

"It's just his way to show he's still a man, a real one," Sam said. "We all know in the end, his nickname in Glee Club was Teddy Bear…"

"Bullshit," Puck replied with a casual move of his arm. "The day I lose my crest, you can say I lost all of my seduction power, but Puckausarus is still in the place."

"You should think about getting rid of this haircut, man" Mike spoke. "It looks like you have a dead raccoon on your head, I don't know if you've been told."

"And you should dye your hair in pink."

"If you want to find a job, you'll never get far with that," Sam said. "Believe me, my dad had a complete makeover and the next day he was hired."

"No need to have a shaved head for what I wanna do," Puck assured them with a mocking smile. "Finn and I planned on working for Kurt's dad."

"And what does Rachel think about that?" Mike asked surprised. "Is she gonna stay stuck in Lima?"

"Finn talked to her about it, she agreed."

"Oh, I would be surprised if she gave up on her dreams," Sam insisted. "So, whether Finn lied to you, whether he still didn't talk to her about it."

"Anyway, we still have a month to think about it," Puck stated with a shrug.

"Less than that. You have to apply months beforehand for New York schools!"

"And how do you know that, mister Maths expert?" Puck mocked.

"I finally convinced my parents to let me apply for Julliard," Mike explained with a satisfied smile. "I will probably never be accepted but at least I won't be forced to be an engineer."

"And you'll find yourself licking stars like Rachel's boots in New York streets," Puck added on a sardonic tone.

"I'd rather be doing that than spending the rest of my life changing cars' oil with a death marmot on the top of my head," Mike concluded with an amused shrug.

"Santana Lopez, get out of that body." Sam said turning on the radio.

A country music covered Puck's biting comeback to Mike.

"By the way, what's the name of the cave we go in?" Puck asked.

"Don't know," Sam said. "We should ask Finn."

Puck glanced at his phone.

"It's a lost place here, I don't have network ever since we left Ohio." He grumbled putting it back in his pocket.

The sun was now up in the sky and the skinning blue sky was announcing a wonderful day. The old analog clock pushed in the dashboard, right above the leather wheel of the car, indicated 9am. The GPS Puck had stolen in the electronic store he had worked in at the beginning of summer was announcing five more hours of ride. Sam sighed and went to roll down the window. It opened with a plaintive screeching and some fresh air rushed into the passenger's compartment.

"Could you try to call Kurt, so we can have an idea of where they are?" He asked, turning briefly toward Puck.

The guy took out his phone once again and put it in front of him.

"Still no network!" He stated.

"What about Mike? Is it better for you?"

"I forgot to charge it before we left, it's dead."

"Well," Sam started, tapping the wheel impatiently, "They left around 7pm yesterday, so they should be there two hours before us…"

"Do we actually care about that?" Puck asked, moving his seat backwards to stretch his legs.

"Eh! Careful with this seat! Last time I moved it I fell…"

The seat bent back completely and Puck's head fell right in between Mike's knees.

"…backwards…"

"Oh shit, sorry, man."

In despite of all his efforts, Puck didn't manage to fix the seat.

"Well, you know what, never mind," Sam said giving him a weary look. "Anyway, this car is mine now, I can do whatever I want, my parents won't kill me."

Puck got himself comfortable and Mike moved to the left.

Interferences were heard in the radio and the sound became completely mixed up. With an irritate move of his arms, Sam turned it off.

"Man, if you had a CD player, at least we would have music to set the mood.

"The simple fact to spend time with us should be enough," Sam joked. "We are all so fabulous."

Puck answered him with a mocking whistling and stretched his legs under the dashboard.


	2. Valerie

« Q, if you came to sulk for the entire stay, it's useless. »

Quinn eyeballed Santana, without leaving her muteness though. The two girls had awakened for a long time now and they were everything but dozed, smiling gently. Brittany was even starting to wonder if she didn't dream it when she saw them both asleep against one another.

"Well, if that's how you see it," Quinn started slowly, "I just have to open the door and get out."

Joining the gest to her words, she unbuckled her belt. Brittany locked the doors. Quinn was capable of it.

"Stop it, you two," she said calmly. "And Quinn, buckle your belt back, don't be a child."

The blonde did as she was told without a word and sent one last glare to the Latina. Santana sighed, conspicuously annoyed.

"Anyway…" She continued.

"San!" Brittany shouted.

It was the first time she raised her voice since they left, and it usually rarely happened. Santana froze and the anger you could see in the blue eyes in the rear-view mirror silenced her.

"Leave Quinn alone," Brittany said on a softer tone. "If she doesn't want to speak, it's her choice."

Quinn could feel Brittany's gaze on her before she refocused on the road. She glanced toward Santana. This one was watching her with a tensed look, and she stared her down for a few seconds. She stared at her with such intensity that she thought she was trying to convey her a message with only the strength of her dark pupils, but Quinn didn't understand what it was and stared back at her until the young woman eventually looked away.

There was such melancholy in Quinn's eyes that Santana was holding herself back to not pounce and her and shake her up. They hadn't seen each other ever since graduation and she had no idea where the blonde had been all this time. All she knew was that she had accepted this speleology expedition's invitation rather tacitly and when she woke up, the day before, and walked out of Brittany's house, Quinn was standing on the threshold, her luggage at her feet. She hadn't said a lot ever since, and this no matter how much Santana would provoke her, even insulting her openly sometimes. The girl she used to consider as a mini Sue's passivity was driving her mad, but now that she had managed to upset Brittany, she would rather stop. Strangely, no matter how much Q had become estranged from her, Brittany seemed to keep this same unexplainable affection for the ex-HBIC. Just like her friendship with Rachel; Santana didn't understand.

"San, you're sure you put gas cans in the trunk?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well we need to stop and put some in the car…" Brittany whispered glancing at the gauge that was furiously flickering among the other warning lights.

She waited to be out of the forest the road they were driving on was in, before stopping on the side of the road. As soon as the car was stopped, Quinn quickly got out of the passengers' compartment and walked away from the vehicle. Squinting her eyes, Santana saw her taking a cigarette pack out of her blouse.

"Don't tell me she still has this bad habit…" She whistled to herself.

"San, can you help me?" Brittany asked her gently getting out of the car as well.

Santana obeyed, still slyly observing Quinn. This one put the cigarette in her mouth and lit it before shaking the strike to put it out and throwing it in the field on the side.

"It's going to ruin her voice completely…" Santana growled helping Brittany to take the can out of the trunk.

"She won't sing anymore anyway now that Glee Club is over for her." The blonde said softly. Santana lost her words for a moment.

"But, it's not an excuse! She needs to pull herself together!"

She held the funnel in front of the gas tank as Brittany was versing the gas. Her gaze fell an instant on her arms muscles that for years among the cheerleaders only helped to develop. Brittany noticed the way Santana was looking at her and smiled.

"Oh um… Sorry…" The Latina mumbled looking away.

"Why? There's nothing wrong with that, I'm yours after all."

Santana thought her head was on fire and she almost dropped the funnel.

"Yeah that's true…" She mumbled, keeping her eyes on her shaking hands.

Brittany didn't add anything more and recapped patently the can that she put on the ground. Santana pretended to be highly passionate by the valve she had just closed on the gas tank but she felt Brittany getting closer and closer before she took the funnel from her hands and put it down the ground.

"San."

Santana didn't know what to do and, paralyzed, saw Brittany's long hands taking hers and squeezing them affectionately. She looked up slowly. Brittany was staring at her carefully, and the love showing through her pupils was almost hard to take for the Latina. She didn't understand that someone loving her that much could exist on Earth. She didn't think she deserved it.

"Are you okay?"

Santana wanted to shake her head yes, but instead of that, she remained silent, observing Brittany like it was the last time she would see her. Eventually, understanding she wouldn't be able to give her a clear answer, she threw her arms around her neck and pulled her in a passionate kiss to which the blonde answered gladly. They only stopped when they were both out of breath. Santana kept her arms around Brittany's neck, and the young girl tightened her grip around her waist, almost pinning her against the car behind her. They stared at each other intensely, and Brittany eventually broke the silence between them:

"I'm sorry I got mad at you earlier…"

Santana made her understand that she forgave her by kissing her.

"I know Quinn is weird, and I also wonder what's up with her, but we never got anything from her by yelling at her. We haven't seen her in a while, and I liked us three together… So let's try to be the nicest we can with her, ok?"

Santana nodded slowly, moved by how understanding Brittany was behind those innocent blue eyes.

"I think she'd rather come feed the ducks with us that being yelled at."

"You miss it, huh?" Santana asked on an amused tone.

As Brittany wasn't answering and just kept looking at her with hope, the young girl pulled her down into a soft loving kiss.

"As soon as we go home from this expedition, I promise you we will go." She whispered and felt the blonde's lips forming a smile against her own.

She stepped back a bit.

"And I'm sure it would loosen her up when I think about it."

"San!" Brittany was outraged.

"I've said worst things in my life, and don't act like it's the first time you hear me talk like that about someone Especially about Q."

Seeing the blonde wanted to insist, she dug her nails into her neck to signal her the conversation was over.

"And now shut up and kiss me."

The other girl didn't need to be asked twice and pressed her a bit harder against the car, wrapping her arms completely around her waist. They almost didn't hear the tapping against the window from the inside. Sighing in despair, Santana broke the kiss and reluctantly turned her head. Through the window, Quinn shot her a cold gaze.

"You will have all the time to fuck when we'll be there, but for that we have to leave." She said through the open window.

The tone was cold and not questionable. Santana pressed one last kiss on the blonde's lips and pulled away softly from her grip. Quinn instantly opened the door and got out of the car.

"I'm gonna drive," she decided. "At least it will keep me busy. And you can do whatever you like on the back seats."

"For god sake Q, how many cigarettes did you smoke to smell like that? Take a chewing-gum or you will run behind the car regretting to have ever started to smoke."

Quinn put the chewing-gum in her mouth and got on the driver seat, slamming the door behind her. Brittany shrugged and smiled at Santana. She took her hand and pulled her with her on the back seats.

…

…

…

"We're hungry! We're hungry! We're hungry!"

Kurt rolled his eyes.

"We're almost there, bunch of brainless losers!" He said tapping the wheel on each syllable to show his annoyance.

Silence instantly came back in the passengers' compartment, but it only took a few minutes for the racket to start again.

"We're hungry! We're hungry! We're hungry!"

"Blaine, could you open the glove compartment, please?" Kurt asked giving an haughty look to the hyper passengers in the back.

His boyfriend did as he was told and Kurt leaned over to take the first CD he found. Amy Winehouse's powerful voice covered Artie and Mercedes impatient exclamations.

"We're… wooooooooouh!" They acclaimed, even more excited as the song started to play.

"_Since I've come home, well my body's been a mess,"_ Artie sang.

"Too bad Santana isn't here to hear that," Blaine pointed.

"_And I miss your ginger hair…_"

Kurt glanced at him before looking back ahead of him.

"_And the way you like to dress!_"

"She would be able to burst into tears," he replied with a shrug. "And you really don't want to have a crying Santana in a car with you, I can assure you that."

"I though she got over it?" Blaine said surprised.

"Yeah, right," Kurt said with a dramatic sigh. "Before that, Amy transcended her, now the simple fact to hear her name is enough to depress her for an entire week."

"_Stop making a fool out of me!_"

"_SO WHY DON'T YOU COME OVER VALERIE?"_

_"Valerie, Valerie!" _Blaine hummed.

Kurt felt his intense gaze on him.

"Oh no! It's not gonna work!"

"Come on, Kuuurt," Blaine begged him putting on his best pouting face.

"No! I'm driving, I can't do both!"

"Come on, Kurt, the verse is all yours!" Mercedes cheered giving a tap on his seat.

The boy adjusted the rear-view mirror to glare at her properly and started to sing on a fatal tone:

"_Did you have to go to jail, put your house out up for sale, did you get a good law-aw-awyer?"_

_"I hope you didn't catch a tan," _Mercedes added.

"_I hope you find the right man," _Blaine went further, running an hand through his hair.

"_Who'll fix it for you!" _Artie conclude as Kurt was trying to kill the mall with one look while doing his hair again.

The song was giving them all so many memories, and even Kurt who seemed to be as mad as this time when Blaine had ruined his shoes by walking on it accidently, could almost feel the nostalgia in suspension in the joyful atmosphere. He had always regretted to be in the Warbler for sectionals, because the only memories he had were boring meetings to decide what solo would Blaine sing and the even more boring rehearsals where he would only sway in the background, to finish with their performance, where he had felt like a clone among all these other boys wearing a black and red uniform. The New Directions probably had a bunch of funny rehearsals and to see them on stage that day had made Kurt realize how much he hated Dalton Academy and their boring traditions. To witness Santana's success, beaming and where she belonged, was only a paltry compensation.

Now, all of this didn't matter, he thought with a smile.

"_Oh won't you come on over?_" Tina asked.

"_Stop making a fool out of me!_" Mercedes answered.

"_WHY DON'T YOU COME ON OVER VALERIE?_" Artie, Blaine, Tina, Mercedes and Kurt shouted themselves hoarse.

They were all in a wonderful mood and were bouncing impatiently at the idea of getting there. Kurt was already picturing the comfortable summer cottage, with couches and silk cushions. Mercedes and he had made a list of the things to bring to improve their comfort and he was already in heaven just by thinking about it. While the others would expend great effort in walking from one tunnel to another, he would share ice tea with Mercedes and Artie. He didn't dare thinking about the frustration he would have felt if his father hadn't let him go to relax a bit before leaving for New York.

"Kurt, take this small path on the left, that's the way!" Mercedes shouted out behind him.

The van moved into a path that snaked between the bright green pines and soon, the place of their stay was in sight. It was a modest summer cottage, partly protected of the bright sun by a huge tree. Its look of hut in the trees displeased Kurt instantly, who wondered what kind of sneaky creatures could leave in this high plant overlooking it.

"Don't worry," Mercedes said, guessing what he was probably thinking. "The house is well isolated and the wood has been treated to avoid any intrusion. However, it's not my fault if you find a bug in your bed tonight."

Even if it was obvious that Mercedes was making fun of him, Kurt couldn't help but let out a disgusted sound.

He parked the vehicle in the small parking provided, just on the cottage's right, and they all got out with gratitude. Tina and Blaine helped Artie and his wheelchair to get out of the van and Mercedes joined them to carry him up the stairs leading to the patio, while Kurt was admiring the landscape. A few kilometers away, below the plains, the lake azure water was twinkling.

Mercedes gave them a meticulous tour of the inside. The habitation had five rooms on the ground floor, of which was a kitchen and a welcoming living-room, and the second floor was divided in three rooms, counting a bathroom and a bedroom, with fold-out couches, a large enough bed for four people and sleeping bags in a corner.

"The toilets are on the outside," Mercedes explained opening the shutters with Tina's help. "They are a few steps away from the tree. There are some books, DVDs, CDs in the attic, and an old TV. I will ask the boys to take it down once they will be there. There is also a big fridge and a freezer, so if you have nothing better to do, Kurt and Blaine, it would be nice if you could put all the supplies in. The water comes from the lake, so it would be better if half of us took their shower on the morning and the other half on the evening, this way we always have pure and hot water. Considering the bathroom is big enough to welcome five people, girls should share it on the mornings and guys on the evening, or the other way around, we will see."

Seeing the questioning look Kurt and Blaine were giving her, she added on a threatening tone:

"Not more than fifteen minutes, except Artie who can have half an hour."

She stopped their protestations with one of her usual killer looks.

"I'm inviting you so you listen to me. Unless of course, Artie agrees on giving 15 minutes of his time," she said turning toward the boy with an ironic smile.

Artie gave them a mocking smile. Kurt barely held himself back from stomping his foot and Blaine put an hand on his shoulder, as if he was trying to tell him they would find a way to break the limitation.

"Now, go take the food," she hurried them with an impatient gesture.

She turned back toward the teenager in the wheelchair.

"Artie, I'm really sorry but we don't have any elevator here, so every time you will want to go up or go down, you will have to ask for somebody's help," the diva continued observing the spiral staircase in the middle of the room. "But we will try to all stay on the first floor to avoid any moving."

"Don't worry about me," he reassured her. "For a few days, I think I'll be fine."

"I hope so…" Mercedes said with a smile.

Tina went to check what supplies they had apart from the ones they had brought, and Artie had to check the phone worked, and to compose every numbers written on the side to make sure they were correct.

"My dad makes another list of emergency numbers every year," Mercedes explained, sweeping the dust. "But I rather be sure."

"Everything works perfectly, no problem," Artie announced hanging up. "Reception is great, mind to explain how it's possible?"

"We put a relay antenna on the roof; it covers the area on 200 kilometers."

"Nothing's too good for the Jones' family! A water tower and an antenna just for you, impressive!"

"Don't be silly," Mercedes said with a laugh. "It's not that expansive, there aren't a lot of people who are crazy enough to live in such a lost place."

"Apart from Doctor Jones and his family. It's not that bad here, though."

Walking past him, Mercedes gave him a tap on the head.

"Instead of saying stupidities, try and call the others to see where they are, and if you don't mind, add their number on the note!"

"You can't say no to Beyoncé."


	3. Know How

Hey guys! I'm sorry if I don't post new chapters regularly but since I have to translate it, some chapters take me more times than others but I'll try to at least update every week and at worst, every two weeks. Thank you for following the story! :-)

* * *

"Sam, you're phone is buzzing."

"Answer for me, I don't want to run into a tree!"

"Ok, man."

Puck sat up and grabbed the phone placed on the dashboard.

"Yeah?"

"Sam?"

"Nah, it's Puck."

"Ah! It's Artie, we're there."

Puck pushed the phone away and put it on loudspeaker.

"Yo Artie, you okay?" Sam said.

"Yeah, yeah, what about you?"

"We've been in this car for thirty years," Puck exclaimed. "My…"

"How is it there?" Mike shouted.

"… is all dull!"

"It's nice, it's like Little House on the Prairie. There's a lake a few kilometers away, we will have time to splash around a bit. Are you far away?"

"Well apparently we're two hours away," Puck said after a glance toward the sat-nav. "Can we see the house from the road?"

"There's a path on the left that disappears behind the trees, you have to take it," Artie explained. "You follow it, you drive out of the forest and the cottage is right after.

"Ok, thanks," Sam said.

"Finn's with you?" Puck asked laying back down his seat, while holding the phone at arm's length.

"Nah, there's Kurt, Blaine, Mercedes, Tina and I; we were all in Kurt's dad's van."

"Any idea when everyone should be there?" Mike shouted.

"You're the first I call, so no. You're only three in the car?"

"Mike, Sam and Puck, yup!"

"Ok, I'll call you back once I know more."

"Deal, see ya!"

Puck placed the phone back on the dashboard and laid back down with a yawn.

"Well, I think I'm gonna take a nap."

"Oh no, not even in your dreams," Sam interrupted. "It's your turn to drive, I find a spot to park the car, we eat something and we switch!"

"Mike can do it," Puck replied closing his eyes.

"He already drove all night long; it's your turn now!"

"Another time," the young man growled crossing his arms under his head.

"I warn you, as soon as you're asleep, I stop the car and throw your guitar in the first field I see."

Puck was suddenly very well awake and Mike and Sam high-fived.

"Speaking of, it's a great idea! Mike, could you give it to me please?"

The Asian boy turned around and rummaged through the trunk.

"Here it is!"

Puck adjusted it as best as he could considering the small space they were in and, wedging it against his stomach, he started to play a few random notes.

"Does anyone have an idea of what we could sing?" He asked.

Sam started tapping his fingers softly against the wheel.

"_Riding on this know-how, never been here before._"

Puck looked at him bewildered.

"I don't know this, what is it?"

Sam didn't answer and continued to sing on a soft voice.

"_Possibly that's all, is history recorded? Does someone have a tape?_"

Puck adjusted himself on the rhythm Sam was playing with his fingers and improvised a few notes.

"_Surely, I'm no pioneer. Constellations stay the same._"

The fair-haired guy stopped all of a sudden.

"There's a girl voice missing for the chorus…"

"Not a problem, I can try and sing the high notes," Puck assured him still playing the same melody on his guitar.

Sam lifted his brows with disbelief.

"Before that, you would have to know the song… My iPod's in my bag if you're interested. It's in the trunk."

"Mike?" Puck called.

"Yeah I got it!" This one exclaimed, turning around once again.

…

…

…

Finn picked up his phone quickly.

"Hello?"

Rachel took the risk to stop looking at the road for an instant to stare at him. She didn't know exactly what she was expecting by doing that, maybe trying to guess who was calling by decrypting his facial expression, but his rather unexpressive expression wasn't helping her at all.

"Oh, hey Artie!"

The diva was having a hard time keeping her eyes on the road. She would have liked to ask Finn to use the loudspeaker but she didn't want to bother him. She just listened to her boyfriend's laconic answers, longing to know what they were talking about.

"Yeah… Nah… We left before noon yesterday and we got some traffic jam issues on the 75… Nah… Yeah?... In the last ones I think… Yeah?... Ah, good! Yeah, she's with me!... Well it's gonna be complicated, she's driving…"

Rachel insulted him in her head, and insulted herself even more for not asking him to put the loudspeaker on.

"… Tell him I said hi…" She said between gritted teeth.

Finn didn't seem to have heard her because he continued to speak like nothing happened, before hanging up.

"So?" She asked innocently, continuing to saddle him with all the nicknames she could think about in her head.

"So, all of those who were in Kurt's car are there. They're going to eat while waiting for us. Sam, Puck and Mike should be there around 2pm. As for us, I told him we would get there in last…"

Rachel dreamt up a while, her hands holding onto the wheel like a bird would hold onto its prey.

"And do you know if Santana and Quinn are coming?"

"Santana, I'm almost sure she will come considering there's Brittany," he supposed, then added on a hesitating tone: "But Quinn, I have no idea. I haven't seen her since graduation."

"Me either…" Rachel whispered.

"But I don't think she's gonna come," he concluded. "Why would she? She graduated; she doesn't have to see us anymore now."

"Yes, I don't see why she would force herself to support us for an entire week when she could be anywhere in the world." Rachel added, not really convinced herself, though.

But Finn was right. Quinn didn't have any good reason to stay among them. She had always seemed to barely tolerate them, and Rachel Berry knew very well what the word "tolerate" meant when it came to Quinn Fabray.

"Hum… other than that…," Finn continued, clearly uncomfortable when they were talking about his ex. "Have you heard from your roommate in New York?"

"I've already told you, I…"

"No but I mean… It's confirmed? You're really going?"

Rachel instantly turned her head to look at him with astonishment.

"What do you mean 'you're really going'? Finn… Wh-what is that supposed to mean? Kurt has been talking about it for months, I have been talking about it for months, even ages. Ever since I joined Glee Club, everybody knows what I want to do, because it's me, not because they've patiently listened to me be spellbound about how I feel every time I go on stage but because it's been four years that I wind up absolutely everyone. I don't even have enough words to explain what Broadway, what New York means to me. I can only express it through songs, and I even wonder why we are still talking about it!"

Finn could see the car slowly diverts from its path and was starting to freak out when Rachel seemed to remember she was driving.

The young woman looked back at the road but she was still pretty agitated and her speech delivery was only increasing.

"I mean… I mean… Finn, Broadway is where I belong, it's where I feel home, I mean… When I'm singing, I feel like I'm in a different world, I feel good, I feel complete, all of my problems disappear… It's my life, Finn! And New York is where I have to be if I want to reach my goal and be able to sing on a Broadway stage. I have to go to NYADA, I have to oust everybody and I have to audition until I can get the roles I want! You know how much I want to play Maria, how Barbra's roles inspire me more than any others. When I'm in New York, I can breathe! It's the city where anything is possible! I mean… You've seen those buildings? Didn't you feel this power and spice's perfume when we walked through Central Park? I've planned everything, Finn! When I was walking along Broadway with Kurt, I could already see my name on posters, I could see myself on stage, facing a packed room, doing what I do best: singing with all my heart!"

The young man was nodding without really listening, his eyes fixed on the dashboard.

"So yes, Finn, I'm really going!" Rachel concluded with a firm nod.

Finn held back an exasperated sigh.

"Rachel, it was only a question. You didn't need to lose your temper like that."

Rachel seemed to bump off on her seat.

"Yes, you're right, I'm sorry…" She whispered. "It's just that… I mean it seemed obvious to me. But I shouldn't have… I'm sorry."

Finn placed a reassuring hand on her right knee.

"It's alright."

She gave him a shy smile.

"But what about you, you're coming with me? You're not asking this because you suddenly changed your mind, right?"

Despite of all the efforts she was doing to hide it, the panic rush threatening to submerge her was perceptible in her every moves. The way she was glancing to her left every now and then to see if Finn was hesitating or was just taking time to answer, this frown she was wearing when she was about to lose a solo and the way her eyelids were blinking faster than usual, like she was holding back invisible tears as best as she could. Finn's eyes stayed a while on her hands clenching the wheel like a life preserver.

"Of course not," he assured her tapping her knee with his giant hand.

Rachel sent him one last hesitating glance, and then progressively relaxed.

"Ok. I'm sorry I doubted you. I'm just so impatient… The rest of our lives, it's now! High school was just a transition and our life, it's in New York!"

Finn offered her his most sincere smile and scratched the back of his neck.

…

…

…

"Oh my god, _Mercedes_! I don't know where your parents went to fill the freezer, but this, it's really, it's really…"

"It's really disgusting." Kurt finished looking away from a speaking and eating Blaine.

He was almost sure he had been able to describe all these sandwiches' ingredients by just looking in his boyfriend's mouth.

"Blaine, where did your good manners go?" He asked raising an eyebrow as the boy was almost chocking on his food after taking a big bite. "Dalton Academy, it wasn't YokelLand if I remember well."

"The leopard can't change its spots," Tina commented.

"Preach!"

Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Kurt's right," Mercedes took part. "I don't remember seeing you eat like that in the cafeteria."

"But I'm so hungry," Blaine moaned with his mouth full. "We didn't even eat breakfast!"

"He was holding himself back because there were too many people around," Artie whispered to Mercedes.

Tina nodded and Kurt and Mercedes looked at each other with wide eyes.

They had spent the last two hours cleaning the cottage from top to the bottom. Kurt and Tina had started arguing to know who would take the big-sized bed, and Mercedes had ended up sending Tina unwrap all the household electrical goods placed in the attic. It had taken Kurt an hour before getting over it and finally offering its help to put away the tableware. Trusting his logic mind, Artie had started writing down a list of the things to do during the two following days to make sure that everyone would have fun. After all, he would be staying here for a week, better make the stay as lovely as he could.

They were interrupted by loud knocks on the door. They all jumped off the kitchen's table and Blaine was the first to get to the door, so he was the one coming face to face with the three boys waiting outside.

"Hey, guys!" He said happily, almost bouncing on the spot.

The three other guys looked at him strangely before Sam eventually held out his hand to shake his vigorously.

"Oh, Sam! Where did your Justin Bieber's hairstyle go?" Kurt asked mockingly walking toward them.

"Saaaam, Jesus, your hair!" Mercedes went into raptures pulling him into a hug. "You look so much better like that!"

"Mike took me to the hairstylist just before we leave," Sam explained, slightly embarrassed with all those compliments.

"No bad, Chang!" Mercedes congratulated him, hugging him as well.

"Well, he will need to see something in this cave," the boy joked.

He flinched when he saw Tina and they stared at each other for a while, clearly embarrassed. The others didn't notice a thing, too busy hugging and talking. Eventually, Tina decided to take him in her arms, awkwardly, because none of them knew how to act around the other.

"I'm glad you came, Mike," she said with a shy smile.

"Yeah. So am I," he mumbled before turning toward Artie and be greeted correctly.

"Well, it's nice here, Mercedes!" Puck exclaimed admiring the place. "But I don't see any bottles, where are the bottles?"

"First floor, mineral water," Kurt told him rolling his eyes.

"It's fine, I brought everything we need," the young man assured with a smirk.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to get wasted before leaving for speleology?" Mercedes asked worried, and Tina couldn't help but agree.

"Oh, come on, you're not a real tight-ass usually! And who said anything about getting wasted? We're just gonna have some fun! We graduated people, we're adults now!"

"And we will have all tomorrow to sober up anyway," Sam added with a malicious smile.

"Instead of playing bad boy" Mercedes retorted grabbing his arm, "come and help me to unwrap Artie's electronic equipment."

The sneaked out by the front door and Puck gave Artie a questioning look.

"Where are the others?"

"Rachel and Finn should be there in two hours, they left later than us. As for Quinn, Santana and Brittany, I couldn't have them on the phone."

"Santana and Brittany must be fucking the other so…"

"PUCKERMAN!" Tina reprimanded.

"… I'm gonna send a text to Quinn, maybe she will answer," Puck decided.

Still chocked by his remark, Tina shot him daggers and went out to help Sam and Mercedes, not adding anything else.


	4. Different Names For The Same Thing

Hey guys, sorry for the really late update, things have been going crazy lately :/ But anyway, enjoy!

* * *

Quinn glanced at her phone. It was enough for her to see who was sending the text to throw it on the passenger side, without even reading it.

"What's going on, Q?" Santana asked.

Quinn looked briefly in the rear-view mirror. The Latina was resting in Brittany's arms, and sprawled against one another like that, they seemed to be comfortable.

"Nothing, I thought I had a text message."

"Quinn, when will we be there?" Brittany complained.

"I have absolutely no idea," she answered with a shrug. "Maybe we even missed the place."

"No way. There's a path on the left, you can't miss it." Santana said stretching lazily.

"And how do you know that exactly?" Quinn asked on a mocking tone.

"Well, I'm still in touch with Mercedes, unlike others," Santana snapped back.

Quinn didn't answer anything and settled for scanning the road to make sure she wouldn't miss said path. She heard furious whisperings behind her, followed by a softer murmur, and guessed Brittany was trying to calm Santana down to make her forget the biting answer she was about to throw at her. It always worked, and it worked again this time. She heard a giggle and the two girls spent the rest of the journey babbling on the back seats. The path Santana was talking about was finally in sight two hours later and Quinn took it carefully, slightly skeptic concerning this house's emplacement. When the car finally left the forest the path was crossing, the blonde could see it was the right one. The cottage was right there, in the middle of the prairie, and in front of it she recognized Sam's old car, parked near a gleaming blue van. The throat tied with apprehension, she drove there and parked the car between the two other ones.

"It's Brittany's car!" She heard screaming somewhere above her, and recognized Mercedes' voice.

Brittany and Santana barely had time to go out of the car that they were plagued by what looked like overexcited kids. Observing them silently in the rear-view mirror, Quinn recognized Sam, then Mike and Mercedes, and finally Kurt. Behind them, she spotted Tina and Tina carrying Artie in his wheelchair. With a tensed sigh, she unbuckled her seatbelt and observed herself in the mirror, trying to fix her hair a bit. Eventually, taking one last breath, she opened the door and went out of the car.

She had considered every possible reaction during the journey. She had imagined an awkward silence, hostile looks, even a complete indifference. Instead of it, seeing her only seemed to double her hosts' excitement. Sam was the first one to make his way toward her and before she had time to greet him politely, he wrapped his arms and held her affectionately. Quinn wanted to cry and hold onto him even tighter. When they broke apart, she found herself unable to do anything besides contemplating him, throat tied.

"It's great that you came, Quinn, it's gonna be awesome!" He breathed out with a wide smile.

"Sam," she eventually managed to say. "Your hair. It's beautiful!"

"Thanks," he answered, slightly embarrassed, forcing his hands in his jeans' pockets.

Quinn spotted Mercedes behind him, waving at her to join them, and as soon as she walked away from the cars, the young woman was pulling her in a warm hug?

"You'll thank your dad for allowing us to stay here," she whispered.

"Eh, no problem!" Mercedes reassured her with casual wave of the hand. "You're always welcome home, Quinn, it's almost empty without you!"

"Don't be stupid, it's been over two years since I left your house."

"So what?" Mercedes replied with a shrug. "You can never forget Quinn Fabray. Our favorite time of the day was to watch you eat your bacon in the morning!"

Quinn didn't know what to answer to this, so she simply smiled.

"Yo, Baby Mama!" She heard someone calling behind her.

…

…

_"Stop calling me like that!" She hissed, flip-flopping._

_Puck was standing there, between two rays, and was wearing his eternal braggart look. Quinn wanted to kick him between the legs to make him understand he better not play with fire. _

_"Oh, relax!" The boy exclaimed. "You like Duck Mama better?"_

_"Shut it, Puckerman!"_

_She observed him a moment, defensively. _

_"What are you doing here?"_

_"Buying DVDs," he explained with a shrug. "That's what everyone does here, isn't it?"_

_She didn't answer and continued to stare at him in suspicion. _

_"By the way, I didn't really have the chance to tell you," Puck continued a little bit unsure. "But I like this haircut. It's cool."_

_She touched unconsciously her hair, still not used to the draft on her neck. _

_"What do you want?" She asked coldly. _

_"What?"_

_"Why are you complimenting my hair? Do you have something to ask?"_

_He opened his mouth to answer but she cut him off straight away by raising her hand:_

_"No, actually you know what; I don't even want to know. I know you want something. It's not like we had spent the whole year without sharing a word and that all of a sudden you were complimenting me on my hair, right? If your intention is sincere –which is not the case-, just go talk to Brittany; she's the one who chose this haircut for me."_

_Puck stared at her, kind of lost._

_"Yeah, um, ok. But I really think this haircut looks good on you."_

_"Cool."_

_Just in the tone of her voice, Puck could guess it wasn't cool at all. She scanned the rays before paying attention to the boy again, standing two steps away. _

_"Anything else or can I go?"_

_"What? Well, uh…"_

_Puck scratched his neck, puzzled. _

_"I hope we'll see each other again during summer break," he finally said with uncertainty. _

_"Yeah. Whatever."_

_She turned on her heels and disappeared behind a ray. _

_They didn't see each other after that. _

…

…

She turned around slowly and found the same braggart look.

"Hey." She said calmly.

Puck was taken aback by Quinn's subdued eyes, so much that he forgot to engage on a random conversation and when he pulled himself together, she had already turned toward Artie and Tina to greet them warmly. He looked for Santana and found her clinging on Brittany's arm, busy talking with Mike, Mercedes and Sam.

"Hey, Lopez!" He called.

The Latina turned around.

"Puckerman."

She gave him a disdainful look, before looking back at the joyful blonde, who was talking heatedly about the coming speleology expedition. Seeing she wasn't willing to let go of her girlfriend to come and talk to him, Puck walked closer and whispered in her ear:

"What's the matter with Quinn?"

The teenager whipped abruptly to stare at him with what looked like aversion, before observing Quinn. The young woman was calmly talking with Tina, but she still had this same faraway look in her eyes, almost glassy. Puck couldn't even find the word to describe the legible feeling in her eyes.

"Quinn is sad."

The two jolted, not having noticed Brittany who had joined their low mass. Santana shrugged.

"Yeah, I don't know what it is, but something isn't running smoothly with her."

"San!" Brittany snubbed gently.

The brunette softened and looked at her with an apologetic smile. Puck observed them staring at each other for a while before suddenly asking:

"Next time you do it, can I watch?"

"Puckerman!"

…

…

…

The sun was starting to disappear when they were done unloading the cars. Mike and Sam helped Artie unpacking all of his electronic equipment and it took them a bit more than an hour to plug everything. When Quinn walked in the small restroom adjoining the living-room, she stared at all the cables on the floor and the furniture with perplexity tainted with skepticism.

"You're afraid to get bored without PS3?" She asked with a deadpan sense of humor, sitting on the couch near Mike.

"It's much more serious than that," Artie explained, typing on his keyboard. "With all of this, we won't lose you during your expedition."

Brittany arrived in the room, bouncing.

"What are you doing?" She asked sitting on an armchair.

"They're explaining what they're going to do with all of this," Quinn explained looking up at her.

"So, normally I have enough GPS to track you," Artie continued. "Here, I have mini cameras to put on your helmet, here there are antennas to hang on your backpack to keep contact and here I have micros in case the cameras stop working."

"I didn't understand a word but it sounds awesome!" Brittany said happily.

"This is completely useless," Quinn commented with arrogance. "We're not gonna stay in this cave for months, not communicating with us won't kill you."

"It's for safety. This way, if something happens to us they will know."

The blonde gave Mike her feature eyebrow lift.

"Comforting."

Santana hurtled out of nowhere and made herself comfortable on Brittany's lap.

"Eh, Four-Eyed loser, mind telling me what are all those screens for?" She asked gesturing toward the screens.

Quinn's eyes were stuck on her waist, where Brittany's arms were wrapped. Santana leaned into her and surmising the ex-HBIC's eyes on her, she stared at her with a challenging look. Quinn instantly looked away and pretended to be interested in the boys' computer jumble.

"This, is to keep a connection with the outside world," Sam explained. "We have the weather here, the last information on the area here, and here we have the Michigan digital card, with the cave."

"And no PS3," Quinn mumbled glumly.

"It would have been too risky to take it in the car with this heat," Mike said with a smile. "But don't worry, we will find other things to do."

"I was just saying." Quinn replied before standing up and sneaking out.

…

…

…

Mercedes and Kurt were arguing to decide what they were going to eat for dinner and Puck was putting his alcohol bottles in the kitchen cupboard. Quinn stayed in the doorway to observe the show without a word, before going to sit at the table in the middle of the room.

"Ah! Quinn!" Mercedes exclaimed giving one last killing look to Kurt. "So, what do you think of the cottage?"

"It's nice." She answered softly. "We're all gonna sleep on the second floor?"

"Yes, I take the bed with Blaine!" Kurt said quickly.

"Easy tiger," Mercedes retorted, her smile fading away. "You're not the only one wanting this bed! Let's wait for Finn and Rachel to arrive before taking any decision!"

"Anyway, I don't think we will need it tonight, will we?" Quinn asked. "With all the bottles Puck brought, we will probably be all reeling on the first floor."

"Not so fast, Baby Mama," Noah spoke.

"_Stop calling me like this!" _He could already hear her say, but she remained silent.

"Before that, Finn and I planned on making you watch a movie!" He continued with a mischievous look.

"Oh my god, tell me it's not what I'm thinking," Kurt whispered hiding his face in his hand.

"_The Descent_!" Puck announced with theatricality.

"Yes, that's what I was thinking…"

"What's this?" Mercedes asked with a frown.

"They forced me to watch it with them on Halloween, it's an horror movie taking place in a cave," Kurt said before turning toward Quinn and adding:

"After watching this, it'll only be a matter of time before one of you withdraw, taking their car and run off."

Quinn stared at Puck with an illegible look. He stared back, giving her his most boastful smile.

"Yet another brilliant idea, Noah," Mercedes commented. "Good luck convincing the other to watch, I won't get involved in this since anyway, I'm not moving from here."

"That's what I'm gonna do, and now!" Puck said, walking away.

"If you're looking for me, I'll be in the attic," Kurt announced. "I have to dissuade Blaine from watching this."

Mercedes sighed as she put the bottles the boy had left on the counter away.

"By the way, Quinn, do you have issues with your phone?" She asked, cleaning the tiles near the sink.

The young woman tensed instantly.

"Not really… Why?"

She already knew where this question was leading them but she rather liked to pretend she didn't.

"Then can you explain me why, in all the texts I sent you after graduation, you didn't answer one?"

She faced the ex-cheerleader again and this one could see she didn't look happy. They stared at one another for a moment, Quinn sat at the kitchen table, Mercedes leaned against the counter. Seeing the blonde was taking forever to answer, Mercedes continued:

"Listen, it's fine. I really don't understand what the matter with you is lately, but it's not because high school is over that you have to ignore us. We wanna stay in touch with you, Quinn, but if you keep pushing us away like you do, don't count on us."

"I'm not pushing you away!" The blonde said, outraged.

"You didn't even answer Puck when he asked when you would be there," Mercedes responded like 'So? What do you have to say?'

This was enough to keep the girl silent.

"On my part, it's all forgotten, ok?" She continued with a smile. "We lived together; I know how you work, even if you act really weird lately, almost as if you were schizophrenic …"

Quinn was cut to the quick with this comment but didn't show it. She didn't see the point in arguing over this.

"Oh!" Mercedes suddenly said. "Would you mind calling Rachel or Finn to see where they are? The sun is almost completely gone and I'm starting to worry about them, the road is rather dark over her and they could miss the path."

Quinn stood up and walked toward the door.

"Thank you!" Mercedes said with a beaming smile.

Dragging her feet, Quinn walked toward the front door, where the phone was. She took a chair and pulled it closer, sat on it and took the phone numbers' list, watching it passively. Finn's number was one of the first, Rachel's one of the last. Logic would push her to call Finn, she thought, but he was her ex, maybe Rachel would get upset.

She glanced behind her, checking no-one was here to assist to her hesitation. She started to compose Rachel's number and deleted almost instantly when she realized she knew it by heart. This was bad… It wasn't a good idea. Bloody hell, why was she doing this? She touched her neck mechanically, looking for the cross she always wore around her neck, but then remembered she had lost it.

…

…

_"Quinnie? You're going down?"_

_"Coming, mom!" The teenager shouted, slamming the door behind her. _

_She threw her cheerleading bag on her bed and stared at her room in silent, her back leaned against the rough wood of her door. Her eyes stopped an instant on the crucifix hung above her bed, then slid to the Bibles in her bookcase. Her breathing became twitchy and she choked a sob with a shaky hand. She closed her eyes for a moment, holding back the tears already blinding her, and she opened them back, the room was now only a mix of blurry colorful stains. She wiped away the tears with her arm and walked slowly toward her dressing table. She contemplated her redden eyes, her tired feature, her crestfallen look. Her cheerio's uniform seemed to be off-beat on her. She took it off savagely, scattering it on her bedroom's floor, and almost broke her closet's door as she opened it to look for an appropriate outfit to wear for dinner. She walked back toward the mirror, adjusted the dress she had chosen and looked back at her face. Her perfect ponytail had been slightly ruined in her desperate attempt to go in her room as fast as possible. She removed abruptly her scrunchie, ignoring the pain, and arranged her golden hair around her shoulder. It wasn't enough. It was never enough. She looked like the perfect little girl every family dreamt of but right now, she felt like the worst slattern. She looked at the cross slightly glowing around her neck in her bedroom's light. She almost felt like it was burning her skin. She grabbed the hairbrush and turned her back to the mirror. She walked toward her bookcase and ran a hand on the books filling it, the other one unknotting her long hair. Her fingers stopped on the leather bound of the Old Testament, and after a moment of hesitation, she took it and weighed it in her hand. _

_Quinn let her hairbrush fall and sat on the edge of her bed, starting to flip through the book without really reading a word. Her hand eventually stopped on a page that had been consulted so many times it was now disheveled and turned down. Her fingers ran over a line that her father had often read to her sister and her when they were kids. She had read it and heard it so many times she knew it even better than her cheerleader's routines. _

You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.

_Quinn stared a moment at the sentence, eyes glassy. The words were echoing in her head. Her head hurt, her eyes were fizzing by dint of holding back the tears ever since she had left school and she had had a rough day. _

_"You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female," she whispered. "It is an abomination."_

_She looked up briefly at the door, fearing her dad might have heard her. If he was walking in now to talk about what sin it was, she wouldn't have the strength to hold back her tears. _

_Maybe she would even blurt out everything._

_She reached out to turn on the radio placed on her desk and one of the depressing music she was used to listen to fill the silence in the room, and covered the noise that was heard when she ripped off the page of the book. Quinn read again the sentence proving her she would end up in hell, creased the paper and threw it against the door. _

_"Quinnie, for the last time, dinner's ready!"_

_The teenaged made a stop by the bathroom to clean up her grazed hands and hide the grazes left by her necklace when she had ripped it off. _

_When her mother asked her why her eyes were red, she pretended to have conjunctivitis. When her father noticed she didn't have her cross around her neck, she said she caught herself on the door handle by walking in her room. The believed her and didn't ask any more question, although Quinn had never broken it in ten years of wearing it. She lied to them with a calm smile, and nodded when her father told her they would go have it fixed the following day. _

…

…

She stared at Rachel's number, then Finn's, absolutely terrified by what her heart was doing to her.

"Quinn?" Mercedes shouted from the kitchen. "When will they be there?"

"I'm trying to call them, it's ringing!"

Her voice was slightly high-pitched under the panic. She composed the diva's number and placed the phone on her ear without thinking. The tone rung out painfully and she really thought her heart was going to explode. She was hoping Rachel wouldn't pick up.

"Hello?"

The receiver almost fell when she violently hung up. She started at it a moment without moving, paralyzed, like it was a poisonous mushroom. Eventually, she pulled herself together and glanced at the note. Her breathing still twitchy, she composed Finn's number and pressed the green button with a stressed sigh.

"Yeah?"

This suddenly so masculine voice bored into her ears.

"Finn? Where are you?"

"Q-Quinn? Is that you?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's me. Mercedes asked me to call, she's worried about you."

She thought a second before adding:

"And so am I to be honest."

"Ah well, I have no idea," Finn answered slightly bothered and the blonde could perfectly picture him scratching his head.

"We shouldn't be that far, we should be there in a few minutes."

"Ok…"

Awkward silence.

"And… Um, how are you?" The boy asked.

"I'm fine." She said immediately, taken aback by his question.

She didn't exactly want to continue this conversation.

"Anyway, uh, I have to go," she continued quickly. "I have to warn the others that you will be there soon. See you later, Finn."

"See you l…"

She hung up without ceremony.

"They should be there in a few minutes." She announced walking back in the kitchen.

"Ah, cool!" Mercedes exclaimed. "You told them to take the path?"

"The pa-…" Quinn stuttered, staring at her. "Shit."

She rushed out and almost fell on the sideboard as she quickly composed Finn's number again.

"Hello Finn? I forgot to tell you…"

"Quinn?"

The blonde didn't know what to answer.

"_Quinn? _Hello?"

"Berry, what are you doing? I wanted to talk to Finn," she answered, more coldly than she wanted it to sound.

"I- I know but he asked me to answer. He's driving."

"He's driving," Quinn repeated dryly.

"But I can transmit a message," she added instantly.

"You can transmit a message," Quinn repeated again. "Well, tell him he has to take a path on the left. If he doesn't pay attention he will miss it."

"Ok… Thank you, Quinn."

"You're welcome."

The ex-cheerleader didn't add anything else, just listening to Rachel's breathing.

"Q-Quinn?" She heard her ask.

"I'm here," she answered with a smile she couldn't hold back.

"I'm glad you came," the young woman said softly. "I'm not exactly a speleology fan and I'm shaking at the idea of going underground when we would be able to play _The Sound Of Music _with all the prairies around us, but I have a feeling we're going to have fun."

She seemed to hesitate before she added:

"I have to say it feels weird to think that next year I won't be coming back to McKinley. I'm really gonna miss Glee Club."

Quinn had no idea why Rachel was telling her all of this but she didn't really care.

"So am I," she confessed in a whisper.

She blamed herself instantly for this sudden tenderness.

"But whatever, just get there in full pieces. See you later, Rachel."

She hung up and turned on her heels.


	5. Wishes

After such a long wait, I'm finally posting this new chapter! I apologize for the wait, really. After everything that happened lately I just couldn't bring myself to keep writting.. Well, translating.

Anyway! Thanks for the people following the story and the ones posting reviews. I appreciate that and I'm sure the original writer does too :)

Enjoy!

* * *

Rachel and Finn arrived at eight sharp and Quinn pretended to admire the purple sky while everyone was rushing outside to greet them. She leaned against the doorframe and watched Finn's car being parked near Sam's. It was in this very same car that he had confessed her he was still in love with Rachel, after Jean Sylvester's funeral. Quinn hadn't seen it coming. She didn't know back then if she was furious of being dumped like that for another girl, or sad to know she would soon see Rachel walking around the school with Finn's big hand in hers.

Finn was the first to get out and was greeted warmly by Puck, Sam and Mike. Quinn watched him in silence, scrutinizing his silly smile with a blank expression.

Then it was Rachel's turn. She was barely out of the car that she was pulled in a group hug with Kurt, Mercedes, Sam and Brittany.

It was hard to believe that two years ago, the diva's presence was barely tolerated.

"Quinn?"

The young woman turned around quickly. Artie wheeled over her.

"You want me to help you?" She offered.

"Ah, nah, I'll be fine. I'll wait here with you."

"Ok."

Her gaze landed back on the petite brunette and she noticed anxiously that she was now walking up the stairs leading to the cottage's patio. Now that she was closer (and busy talking about something apparently very interesting with Kurt), Quinn could watch her as her pleases. Her stomach did backflip when she noticed that for once in her life, Rachel was wearing something decent. Quinn helped Artie to move on the side to let them pass. Rachel hesitated a bit, clearly uncomfortable.

"Rachel," she said with a nod.

She examined the young woman before adding with the small smile:

"This dress looks great on you."

Rachel stared at he, surprised, before thanking her shyly.

They looked at each other for a little while longer before Finn walk behind her.

"Hey, Quinn!"

This one didn't really know what to. She was ready to simply nod but the boy came closer to take her in his arms. She answered his hug with confusion written all over her face, and Rachel couldn't help but smile noticing her surprised expression.

…

…

…

"What the hell, Brittany?" Santana shouted staring at her camera with disbelief.

The blonde's head popped up of the trunk and she looked at what Santana was showing her.

"It's you and Quinn," she said with a smile, before disappearing again.

"I know who it is," Santana said annoyed. "But when did you take those pictures?"

"This morning."

The Latina remained speechless for a short instant. Brittany's regal composure did nothing but increasing the anger rumbling in her stomach.

"I don't see why it upsets you like that," Brittany continued taking the last ropes out of the trunk before closing it. "You were cute, so I took pictures."

"But these pictures are ridiculous!"

Brittany cringed, slightly taken aback by her girlfriend's excessive reaction.

"We've always been like this with Quinn," she said softly.

"But not anymore, Britt!" Santana shouted. "It's over now and it's not by taking stupid pictures that everything's gonna go back to the way it was!"

She ignored the hurt look on the young woman's face and threw the camera on the backseats. She slammed the door violently, grabbed two rope's rolls and turned on her heels.

"Now hurry up and get inside before the night's too dark!" She added climbing up the steps.

She didn't turn around once, not wanting to see the blonde's hurt expression.

…

…

Brittany thought she had done something right, she really did. She sat a moment on the backseat and looked at the pictures of Quinn and Santana sleeping against one another. She only felt sadness now while contemplating the pictures. Santana's anger was still painful and she understood what she had done was wrong. She shouldn't have tried to rekindle something that was now long gone. She almost felt like she had forced Santana to remember how Quinn used to be, when the Unholy Trinity didn't even exist anymore.

She looked by the window and saw Santana disappearing inside.

She didn't like seeing Santana hurt, and she would rather be the one hurting that to see her in pain. If there was anything she could do to make her feel better, she would always do it, no matter what. She would have liked to keep those pictures, because they represented something that would probably never happen ever again between Quinn and Santana, but if her girlfriend was so upset and angry at their sight, Brittany would do anything to please her.

She deleted them all, one by one, and she got out of the car to join the others only when she was completely sure there was no more pictures on the camera.

…

…

…

Santana dropped the ropes in a corner, near Rachel and Finn's bags, and heard acclamations coming from the kitchen. She sneaked in discreetly. Puck was holding two bottles at arm's length so everyone could see them.

"Noah, you stop this now!" Rachel said outraged.

But her protests were soon covered by the other boys' enthusiastic shouts. Kurt rolled his eyes and glared at Blaine, but this one wasn't even paying attention, overexcited by what was going on.

"Finn, do something!" Rachel exclaimed turning toward her boyfriend, leaned against the counter.

But this one only shrugged.

"Come on, Rach, we're just having fun!" He said grabbing her by the waist.

She sighed loudly, annoyed. Next to her, Sam and Mike were jumping and screaming.

"OH HELL TO THE NO!" Mercedes shouted as she walked in the kitchen.

Silence came instantly.

"Noah, get down of this table and put this bottles away or you'll sleep on the floor tonight!"

The boy was ready to retort something but she interrupted him immediately:

"Shut it, I'm the host!"

He let his arms fall back on his sides and put away the alcohol without a word.

"No way I'm gonna let you muck up the cottage, did you hear me?" She said turning to the others. "No vomit, no broken things, no alcohol everywhere. In other words, no drinking session!"

Sam and Mike sighed in disappointment and Puck shouted her down. Even Finn looked disappointed, but his facial expression turned into something neutral as soon as Rachel turned toward him.

"We can have fun without having to drink till we throw up, she's right," Kurt continued on an arrogant tone.

"Thank you, Kurt," Mercedes said sending him a smile before focusing back on the people in the room. "Apparently, Finn and Noah –even if they seem to have completely forgotten about it- planned on making us watch a fascinating horror movie tonight, so I don't see any problem for us to drink in front of it, but no excess or you will all sleep outside! We didn't come here to get drunk!"

"Since when are you such a tight-ass, Mercedes?"

"Shut it, Puckerman!" Rachel and Kurt shouted together.

Santana suddenly felt a cold hand wrapping around her neck and she chocked a surprised hiccup. A blueberry perfume she would have been able to recognize among thousand tickled her nostrils and she let Brittany pull her against her gently. She tried to follow on what Mercedes was saying with so much gesture but her efforts were broken instantly when Brittany nibbled gently on her ear.

"Stop, Britt," she weakly protested.

"I'm sorry," the blonde whispered, and her breath tinkled her neck.

"About what?" Santana whispered back.

"The pictures."

The Latina gripped her arm and dragged her out of the room. In the hall obscurity, Brittany's bright blue eyes were shining but Santana barely noticed as she gripped her hoodie and kissed her passionately. They hit the sideboard as they moved backwards. Santana kept them from falling by pulling Brittany even closer, and she pulled with such strength that their balance reversed. She found herself pinned against the opposite wall, the blonde's hands resting on the wall each side of her head.

"Don't be sorry," she whispered once they stopped to take some air. "Don't be, please."

Their lips met again with the same fervor, and Brittany wrapped her arms around her waist, almost lifting her up from the floor. Ovations were heard in the kitchen, not far from them.

"We should…" Brittany whispered excitedly, out of breath. "We should go upstairs."

"No… not upstairs, this is the first place where… where they will come to look for us," Santana mumbled, blood pulsing in her temples. "On the patio… there's a couch… Nobody will think of it…"

Brittany nodded quickly. Santana grabbed her hand and led them out by the front door.

"Has anybody seen Santana?" Rachel asked walking out of the kitchen, Finn holding her hand. "She was there five minutes ago!"

Kurt shrugged.

"Maybe she decided to be reasonable for once in her life by not watching an horror movie taking place in a cave right before _going _in a cave."

"Wh-what? We're really going to watch this movie now?" Rachel stammered, wide-eyed.

"Didn't you listen, mini-Barbra?" Puck asked as he walked past her. "Heebie jeebies, it's now!"

"W-wait!" She exclaimed, in the grip of sudden panic. "Can't we watch something else instead? Do we really have to?"

"Come on, Rach," Finn encouraged, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "You can hide behind me if you're scared, I'll protect you."

Rachel blushed.

"Alright… But be warned, If I have post-traumatic symptoms because of this movie session tomorrow, it will be your fault because you won't have stopped me like any good boyfriend should do!"

Kurt glanced toward Mercedes.

"You know Rachel," he said. "I've already seen it and I've survived. You can do it!"

She stared at him unsure.

"Yes, maybe, I will just sing in my head if a scene scares me…"

"I think you will have enough to sing your entire Broadway repertoire in that case, sweetie," he said tapping her shoulder gently before going to help Mercedes to clear the table in the living-room.

"Are pizzas okay for everyone?" Sam asked walking down the stairs with Mike following close behind, both of them carrying boxes.

"YES!"

Seeing them all arrive, Quinn got up from the couch where she had been resting until now, and not knowing what to do, she asked Mercedes how she could help.

"I think Tina and Artie are upstairs, tell them to join us."

"Alright," she said with a nod and let Mike and Sam walk past her before going upstairs.

"Blaine, if you could bring some glasses and plates that would be nice. And don't forget…. NOAH! One bottle should be enough for now! Put the other four back in the kitchen if you don't want me to kick your ass! … Blaine, don't forget the coasters, please! Goddamnit, can somebody tell me where did Britt and Satan go…. Santana I mean?"

"I'm gonna check!" Kurt decided.

He started going upstairs when he met Tina and Quinn carrying Artie and his wheelchair.

"Ooooops, sorry!" He apologized and went back downstairs to let them pass, before walking up the stairs again.

"No problem!" Artie said with a wide smile.

The first floor was wasteland and same for the attic.

"Are you sure it's a good idea?" He heard Tina ask on a weak voice as he went back downstairs. "We leave for a speleology expedition tomorrow and we are going to watch this?"

"Ah, you see I'm not the only one!" Rachel said on a dramatic tone.

"Rache," Finn sighed. "I thought we agreed."

"I propose Funny Girl instead!" The young woman continued.

"No musical today, Rachel," Sam said with an apologetic smile.

"Tonight, we get scaaaaared." Mike continued snapping his fingers.

Kurt joined Mercedes in the kitchen and almost collided with Puck who was walking out with two crisps' packets in his hands.

"Wow," the guy exclaimed moving to the left. "Careful, Hummel!"

Kurt gave him a snobby look.

"I looked for them everywhere, I couldn't find them." He stated, helping the young woman to put the pizzas in the oven.

"Did you think of looking on the patio?"

"Ah no, my apology." He said walking out immediately.

He tried to open the front door but it was locked. With an annoyed sigh, he turned around, walked through the hall and in a room near the living-room. It was a tiny library with a few shelves, four armchairs and a bay window leading to the patio. Kurt opened it and closed it with disgust: he was now right under the tree the cottage was leaning on. He was afraid to be touched by a disgusting insect so he walked precipitately on the left. Once he was far enough from the gigantic tree, he stopped for a moment, enjoying the fresh air. The sky was still starless and a soft summer breeze blew on the prairie. There was wheat and pine cone scent in suspension in the air, and forgetting for the first time his deep disgust for everything related to nature, Kurt thought a creator should make a perfume of this scent, because he would love for Blaine to smell like this. Eventually, he remembered why he was here in the first place and went back to look for the two girls. That's when he walked by the front door closed from the inside that he started to seriously wonder if they hadn't sneaked out for a night getaway. He turned at the angle and over there, thanks to the light projected through a window with no curtain; he spotted a shadow on the couch and what looked like two shapes on it. He walked closer and Rachel chose this exact moment to open the curtains of another window a few meters away. Kurt got time to see Santana in only her panties, straddling Brittany who was still wearing her bra, at least. And he could hear them.

"OH MY EYES MY EYES!" He shouted, covering his face with his hands.

"_Oh Santa Madre de D_-…" Santana groaned.

Brittany pulled quickly her hand away from the Latina's panties.

"OH MY EYES OH MY EYEEEEEES!" Kurt kept screaming, and his voice was so high-pitched that he could have reached any note higher than the ones in Defying Gravity without difficulty.

He was bouncing hysterically and the blonde took advantage of the fact that he wasn't looking to slid Santana in her Cheerios jacket. She wasn't as rushed as the ex-HBIC to get dressed but did it anyway. She put on Santana's shirt that she found on the floor and turned toward Kurt.

"It's okay Kurt, you can open your eyes!"

The boy opened his fingers before closing them back immediately.

"AH NO what are you doing you're still in your panties!"

"Eh, it's okay," Brittany reassured him with a shrug. "I got caught several times when I was sleeping with guys in the locker room, I'm used to it."

Santana handed her her jeans silently, clearly annoyed by the fact that she was talking about this time.

"Done, Hummel, we're dressed from feet to head, you can open." She said, tensed.

Kurt opened his eyes slowly and relaxed a bit. It was quick though because soon, Santana was walking toward him and grabbing him by his collar. Brittany placed a hand on her arm but she ignored it.

"Now listen to me. You don't talk to anyone about this, neither now nor ever. Otherwise do you know what I'm gonna do? Warbler, you know your boyfriend who's bouncing around like an idiot inside? I kidnap him, I lock him in my basement, and I invite you. I torture him, I kill him in front of you and _then _I take care of you. First, I make you burn all of your shoes and you won't have any other choice than to listen to me. And _then _I kill you, strangling you with one of your overly expansive ties so you regret loving fashion and luxury so much. And do you know why I'll do that? Because that's how we do it in Lima Heights!"

"Eh, it's a Marc Jacob, you're gonna widen it!" Kurt protested trying to get away from her firm grip on his pullover.

Santana didn't let go, though.

"_¿ Lo tienes ? _Got it ?" She asked, staring at him with a threatening look.

Kurt nodded slowly.

"Ok." She said letting go of him.

Brittany walked slowly toward her and took her hand.

"You know, San, Kurt is a unicorn, so it doesn't really count if he saw us."

Santana glanced toward her, her eyes softening as soon as they landed on the blonde's beautiful blue eyes.

"I don't want other guys to make nasty comments about us…" She confessed in a whisper.

Kurt looked away, pretending not to have heard anything, but his heart broke in two as he heard the words of the girl who had ran McKinley with such confidence.

Brittany kissed Santana quickly to comfort her, but she only smiled weakly.

"You're a unicorn, too," the blonde whispered placing a soft kiss on her still sweaty cheeks. "And unicorns help each other."

Kurt could sense their gaze turning toward him. He turned around and arched an eyebrow.

"It's old news that you two can't spend a minute without touching each other. I don't see why I would talk about it."

Santana smiled softly and after a squeal, Brittany hugged him tightly.

"Anyway," he started, pulling away carefully. "I'm supposed to take you back inside for a movie session, so we better hurry before they start wondering what we are all doing."

When they got inside, most of the group was gathered around the coffee table in the living-room, and was eating pizzas while observing Puck and Finn trying to make Mercedes' parents' old TV work.

"Ah here you are!" Mercedes said turning around. "Can you explain us why for god's sake was Kurt screaming like that two minutes ago?"

"He saw a spider," Santana answered immediately.

The young boy turned around to glare at her and she gave him a sardonic smile.

"Anyway," Mercedes continued, ignoring this small detail. "Do you want something to drink?"

She turned toward the two ex-cheerleaders.

"Girls?"

Santana could sense everyone's gaze on her and she suddenly realized that Brittany and her had switched their tops in the haste. She let go of Brittany's hand and grabbed the tequila bottle placed in the middle of the table, taking two long sips. She instantly felt better and sat on the couch on her right, next to Quinn. The blonde stared at her without a word before moving to the side and inviting Brittany to sit with them with a nod.

"Drink?" She asked to the blonde taking a beer can.

"No…" Brittany answered gently. "I'm gonna drink water, thank you."

Quinn observed a moment the young woman's distraught expression before standing up quickly.

"I will go take you a glass, take some pizza while waiting," she said before disappearing in the kitchen.

Brittany and Santana remained silent. Uncomfortable, the Latina pretended to be interested in the battle Puck and Finn were having against the television. They were trying to adjust it on the piece of furniture, and eventually, Sam and Mike came to help them. Brittany was staring at the pizza box opened in front of her, and she realized she wasn't really hungry, even if she hadn't eaten in ten hours. On the opposite couch, Rachel was carefully observing the boys, her head resting against the armrest, and Kurt rested his head on Blaine's shoulder, who smiled and wrapped his arm around his shoulders. Brittany glanced toward Santana, and seeing she persisted in sitting upright, she turned her head to the right. Artie and Tina were sat next to each other, and the girl was completely lounging on him, whispering something in his ear. As for Mercedes, she was obviously happy with her pizza.

She didn't know how it was possible, but Santana could feel the sad little panda aura exuding from Brittany, even if she was trying her best to ignore it. She was dying to come close to her, to wrap an arm around her waist and to turn her head to observe her face before kissing her. She wasn't doing it. Terror was paralyzing her.

She closed her eyes, trying to push back the painful memories that couldn't be handled right now, with so many people around.

When she opened them again, the fact that she wouldn't hold the night without at least another sip seemed obvious. She grabbed the tequila bottle yet again and drank, ignoring Rachel, Kurt, Blaine, Artie, Mercedes and Tina's distraught looks, before sitting back down.

Quinn came back with an iced water carafe and a glass that she handed to Brittany with a soft smile. As she was filling it, she didn't break eye contact with Santana, and even if she was keeping an unreadable expression, the Latina could almost hear the accusation silently formulated in her mind.

"Alright, losers!" Puck said turning toward them.

The battle against the television was over and they had won it. Finn went to sit back comfortably next to Rachel, who took his arm to wrap it around her shoulder with a smile. Sam and Mike sat next to Mercedes, who handed them a slice of pizza that they took happily. Tina and Artie broke eye contact to focus on what Puck had to say.

"If the DVD player don't play bastard, we should all have a hell of a fear tonight, and I think you can all thank Finn and I for this."

"And Sam!" Mercedes exclaimed, putting down her slice of pizza to raise his arm.

"Yeah well, he brought the DVD," Puck admitted reluctantly. "Anyway, enjoy everyone!"

He turned around to put the disk in the player, grabbed the remote and went to turn the lights off.

"What's this movie, Puckerman?" Santana asked.

The tequila was starting to have its effect and she was happy about it. She felt lighter.

"_The Decent!_" He answered with a smile supposed to be terrifying as he sat next to Sam.

Santana instantly looked up at Quinn, who, still standing, had just put the carafe down the table. Their gaze met.

…

…

_"Quinn, stop crying…" Brittany whispered on a pleading tone._

_The young girl was curled up on the bed, sobbing and shaking, and it had taken ten long minutes before the Cheerio could take her in her arms. _

_"I can't…" She heard her say, her voice choked by her skirt drenched in tears. "I can't…"_

_"But it makes me sad to see you sad," Brittany whined, holding her closer. _

_But Quinn kept crying and Brittany didn't know what to do to make it stop. The bedroom's door was suddenly opened and Santana walked in, a plate of cookies in her left hand and a milk bottle in the other. She placed them on her desk before walking toward the bed. She sat next to Quinn and observed the blonde for a moment with a saddened look. She exchanged a shattered look with Brittany and moved closer._

_"Q," she said gently._

_But the sobs making the teenager shake were still as violent. Santana grabbed one of her hands and tried to pull it away from her knee, but it wouldn't move._

_"Q, listen to me. We're not gonna talk, not a word, nothing. We're gonna watch a movie, secondarily have one hell of a fear and you're gonna love it. And so am I. Brittany will hate it, though, but she will forgive us because we promised her we would go feed the ducks in exchange."_

_"With fresh bread this time."_

_"Yes with fresh bread, Britt." Santana agreed with a tender smile._

_She looked back at the ex-HBIC._

_"So, Q? Agreed?"_

_The hand placed on her knee relaxed and Santana was able to squeeze it softly. Quinn looked up slowly, and Brittany pushed away blond hair that was masking her face, revealing the teenager's red eyes and saddened traits. She nodded softly between two sobs. Santana stood up to take the remote placed on her desk and turned on the player. She grabbed the plate of cookies and the milk bottle and sat back next to Quinn. _

_"It's a horror movie. You're _really _gonna hate it, Britt," she said with a mischievous smile, turning toward the taller blonde. "Scream as much as you want, my parents won't be home before nine."_

_They spent the next two hours screaming and jolting, cuddled up against one another. Quinn was sat between the two cheerios and Brittany spilled half of the milk on her after a sudden jolt from Santana. They decided to put the cookies aside as well after the third blood spatter. Even Quinn who had been unable to stop crying during the first hour, ended up screaming around the end._

_"_The Descent?_" She said observing the DVD's sleeve. Remind me to never watch this movie ever again."_

_Santana only smiled and Brittany pounced on the blonde to pull her in an overly affectionate hug. _

…

…

"Hold on," Brittany suddenly said turning toward Santana. "Isn't that the movie we watched at your place to comfort Quinn after she gave Be-…"

Santana couldn't see another way to shut her mouth and she had to admit, the tequila she had drunk gave her the courage she clearly lacked when she was sober. She pounced forward to kiss her passionately, and she barely heard the surprised exclamations around her. When she pulled away, her gaze stayed a moment on Brittany's surprised face. Those dilated pupils staring at her with such intensity were filled with a wild desire that hadn't been entirely satisfied with Kurt's unexpected interruption earlier. And had suddenly been brought back to life. Santana was suddenly dying to rip off all of Brittany's clothes and to take her right here on the couch, but she was still too close to sober to forget the people with her in the room. Speaking of, she turned toward them because they had been silent for several seconds already. Still standing, Quinn was arching her Fabray-ic eyebrow. Behind them, Artie and Tina were staring at them, Mercedes was frozen in the same position since a minute earlier, mouth wide opened, pizza in suspension. Sam had put his own in his mouth to choke his surprised cry, Mike was closing Puck's jaw, and on the side, Kurt was giving them a look clearly saying "what's the point in being surprised by the gayest person in this house if it's to kiss like that three seconds later". Blaine was smiling widely and Finn was frowning like there was something really difficult to understand. As for Rachel, she was clearly hesitating between astonishment and another emotion uneasy to read by the Latina.

"_Well,_" Quinn finally said with a typical annoyed tone. "Now that you're all better, I think everyone can watch the movie in peace."

She sent a look to Puck who took a while to understand he was the one holding the remote, and when they were all focused on the screen (as much as they could after seeing a drunk Santana passionately kissing a sober Brittany while being sober themselves), she sneaked out of the room.


	6. Ballad Of A Broken Heart

I know what you're thinking. Another chapter already? Yes I took some advance so I could post more regularly. I'm gonna try and keep it that way but I can't promise anything :/

To StilettoBandit: Thank you for your review, it means a lot to me that you like the story so far. Having read it in French I actually get excited when other peope like it as well cause really, I love how the author handles the characters and everything that will happen in the cave later. So I can't wait for you to read what happens next :) I'm sure it means a lot to her as well! And if you like a good Glee horror fic, then you should definitely keep reading.

To all the followers: Thanks a lot as well, I hope you enjoy the storyand don't hesitate on posting reviews to let the original author know what you think! I'm sure she reads all the reviews!

Enjoy this new chapter!

* * *

The young woman opened the glassed door and closed it carefully behind her. She walked lazily on the patio, and observed a moment the tree next to her. For a moment, the crazy idea of climbing it crossed her mind but she quickly realized there weren't enough reference points by palpating the trunk.

"Hum, too bad…" She whispered as she walked toward the guardrail going along the patio.

The fresh air of the night relaxed her and she looked up at the sky, looking for the stars she knew so well. But the firmaments kept this same dark color and there was no bright point, which made Quinn sigh. She rummaged in her corsage and extracted her cigarettes packet. She put one in her mouth and observed the landscape in front of her, striking a match vacantly. With a resounding crack, a bouncing reddish flame illuminated her tired face and after approaching it to her cigarette, she continued to watch it burn until her fingers couldn't take it anymore. She shook it and threw it over the guardrail.

Quinn leaned against the smooth wood and took a puff with a thoughtful look. The smoke fluttered about in front of her before disappearing. She wished she could stay on this patio for the rest of her life.

After a moment of complete stillness, she slid her hand in her dress' pocket and pulled her phone out. She deleted Puck's message without reading it and scrolled through her contacts.

The young woman put the phone to her hear hesitantly. The tone sounded for a long time and the phone was picked up just a second before landing on the voicemail.

"Hello?" She whispered on a weak voice.

A silence was the answer on the other end. She looked at her phone to make sure the person hadn't hung up.

"Liz?"

She could hear the dishes jingling, followed by a spatter noise.

"I know you can hear me. I know you're here."

Another silence.

"You just put your cutleries in the sink."

She waited anxiously, but nothing came.

"I thought we were over this kind of things." Quinn continued on an unsure tone.

She only heard the leafs' swishing above her.

"If you pick up it's to open your fucking mouth!" She shouted, suddenly angry.

"What are you doing, Quinn?" The voice on the other end answered coldly. "It's almost ten."

The cold tone felt like a slap to the young girl.

"I don't know if you listened to your voicemail," she said trying to control her voice. "But I left you several messages to tell you I was going to this speleology expedition with friends. Well I…"

She ran a hand through her hair.

"… Well I got there. I wanted you to know that."

"Ok."

Quinn took another puff on her cigarette. She felt stupid for calling. Liz was patiently waiting for her to be done with what she had to say before hanging up. It was always the same scheme and it would never change.

"This way you can tell mom if she calls you in panic in three days saying I'm not answering my phone," she added on an emotionless tone. "There's no network in underground tunnels."

"Alright."

She barely held herself back from hanging up. The indifference her sister felt toward her made her want to hurl.

"Your friends…" The voice suddenly said. "They're from the Glee Club?"

Quinn frowned.

"Yes…" She answered, on the defensive.

"So you're with Rachel Berry?"

She thought she was gonna drop the phone.

"Yes."

There was a silence on Liz's side.

"You're going to Hell." She eventually said.

Her voice was completely emotionless.

"I know," Quinn answered.

"Just like the two men she calls her parents."

"Yes."

After yet another silence, Liz reluctantly said:

"Andy says hi. And Charlotte asked me again where her aunt was."

"Tell them I said hi."

Her sister didn't answer. Quinn wiped her cheek with the back of her hand, before taking another puff of her cigarette. The smoke was ruining her limbs more surely than the disgust her sister was feeling toward her polluted her mind.

"I don't want you near the. Ever." Liz eventually said. "Don't try to see them, or I will know it."

"Alright."

"You can sign the cards Mom sends us, but I forbid you to do anything else.

"Ok." The blonde answered on a gloomy voice.

She crushed her cigarette on the guardrail.

"I like it better when it's your voicemail." She admitted.

"I answered because I thought that if you were calling this late, it was to apologize and beg me to help you."

"Clearly you got it wrong…"

"I wouldn't have picked up otherwise."

"It's good to know."

"I won't do it anymore."

Quinn recited several sentences in her head. There was the one she had prepared to feign indifference, and others more sincere, not saying too much on her state of mind, though.

"If I called this late, it was to talk to you, to hear your voice." She eventually answered.

"Well now it's done."

Quinn's fist clenched on the guardrail, and she barely noticed the pain in her fingers as she was holding the wood too tightly.

"I miss you, Liz…" She whispered on a broken voice.

"I would miss you too if you weren't… Like that." Liz retorted abruptly.

It took Quinn five seconds to understand.

"Goodbye, Liz." She said before hanging up.

She put her phone back in her pocket and took another cigarette with a shaking hand. She dropped it several times before managing to light it up.

"Quinn?"

She turned around quickly, almost burning herself with the match. Sam was leaning against the door. He didn't miss her lost gaze.

"Since when are you here?" She asked abruptly.

"Three seconds or so," he said with a shrug. "Is everything okay? You're missing the entire movie."

She stared at him without a word.

"Just let me smoke this one."

Sam nodded slowly. He was dying to stay a little bit longer to talk, and Quinn could tell by the way he was swinging from one foot to the other.

"Hurry then." He said with a smile before closing the glassed door behind him.

He would have probably stayed if Quinn has made the effort to hide her annoyance upon seeing him. She nonchalantly turned around and took her place back to the guardrail.

The air was starting to get cold and she shivered as she took her third cigarette in her packet. She usually didn't smoke that much but her short talk with her sister had really disturbed her. She had just put it to her mouth when she spotted Brittany from the corner of her eye, who was opening the door and walking on the patio as well. This time, Quinn didn't have to force herself to relax and an hesitant smile appeared on her lips when the young woman walked closer.

"Quinn!" Brittany exclaimed, stopping just a meter away from her. "Why are you here all alone and being cold when you could sit with us and watch the movie?"

Quinn lowered her head to light up her cigarette.

"Horror movies aren't really my thing. Besides, watching _this one _before going for a speleology expedition is really ridiculous." She mumbled before turning to face the blonde.

With her wedge heels, she could look her in the eyes with having to look up. She crossed her arms and lowered her hand to avoid sending the smoke on her.

"But Quinn," Brittany insisted. "It's our movie, you, San and I! Don't you remember how we screamed watching it?"

The young woman's enthusiasm was contagious and Quinn remembered why she loved Brittany so much.

"And I'm telling you even if Santana didn't want me to talk about it…" She added with a beam.

"I bet," The ex-HBIC whispered arching her eyebrows with an amused smile as she thought back of earlier.

She turned her head to breath out a cloud of smoke.

"But I'm sorry, Britt, I need to be alone for now. I feel like I can't breathe in there, with everyone in the same room… I'm not talking about you and San, but the whole Glee Club."

When she looked back at the blonde, she noticed how disappointed she was.

"So you're not coming?"

"No…" Quinn breathed out, trying to contain her guilt at the sight of the girl's disappointment.

"Alright…" She whispered, looking down.

Unable to take any longer this churning feeling in her stomach, Quinn turned her back to Brittany. Without adding anything else, she waited for the other to leave. After a long minute, she heard the blonde walking away and turning around after counting to one hundred, Quinn could see the place was desert again. She was slightly relieved.

The feeling didn't last long. The glassed door was opened with a resounding slam and Santana burst on the patio.

"What's the matter with you, Q?" She asked, stopping two meters away from her.

The other stared at her with an indifferent look.

"Nice your hoodie."

Santana walked closer with a threatening look.

"Relax, it was a compliment." She added arching an eyebrow.

"Stop provoking me," the Latina hissed.

"I'm not provoking you," Quinn retorted on a placid tone. "Brittany's hoodie looks good on you, that's it."

"Shut up."

"Stop making a huge deal of it, Santana. You didn't seem to care earlier when you kissed your girlfriend in front of everyone."

The young woman gripped her by the cardigan. A slight scent of tequila was floating around her.

"You stop this right now, Q."

Despite of Santana's aggressive attitude, Quinn was the one dominating her because of her height. She held her angry look without a blink.

"What the hell, San?" She asked her. "As soon as you're near each other you can't help but hold the other, take each other's hand. God! Bu wearing her hoodie is suddenly too much. It's a freaking hoodie, Santana. That's what people in a relationship do. They switch their clothes, the kiss each other in public. We're not in McKinley anymore, you know?"

Santana tightened her grip and pulled her closer. Their noses were almost touching.

"You don't know anything, Q, anything about how I fell, so shut up."

Quinn only rolled her eyes.

"Where is Santana Lopez?" She whispered with a provoking rictus. "We were running McKinley if I remember well. You're the one who got the slushies idea, you're the one who would throw the strongest football player in the lockers if he dared making fun of Brittany, you're the one who would crush the new cheerleaders to make them understand that the HBIC place was already taken."

Santana was staring at her with intensity, unable to open her mouth.

"You finally have Brittany. She's all yours. What's stopping you from loving her completely? Puckerman's dirty comments don't go further than his skimpy imagination and other boys aren't here anymore to talk behind your back. Where's the problem anyway? They can go screw themselves."

Santana's joints turned to white as she was almost ripping off Quinn's yellow cardigan.

"And you're telling me this now?" She whispered angrily. "You're giving me your hypocrite speech when you didn't answer a single text I sent you this summer? Goddamnit, Quinn, I even tried to call you at least ten times!"

Her irises were only two black holes where rage and bitterness were colliding with each other with violence. Quinn's cigarette fell without a noise at their feet.

"I don't know why you have this hangdog look glued to you face all the damn time since we saw each other again and I don't care. But you're far from carrying all the world's misfortunes on your shoulders, and if you really thing being the only one suffering here, then you're really the most selfish person I know."

Quinn kept staring at her with stupor, wide-eyed.

"When you're friend with someone," Santana whispered, jaw tensed. "It's not only so they come scrape you off the ground when you're at your lowest. You're also supposed to come fix them when they break down. Between you and I, you're the less stubborn bitch; I thought you would have understood that at least. But guess I was wrong."

Two tears rolled down Quinn's pale cheeks. Santana pushed her violently and she stumbled backwards.

"So stop saying what I should do or not do with Brittany. You lost that right a long time ago."

Quinn opened the mouth to say something but her throat was knotted and pronouncing the simplest sentence turned to be an ordeal. The Latina probably wouldn't have said all those things without the tequila, and Quinn didn't know if she would have rather pretended to ignore the way she had suffered when on her side, she was slowly drifting away.

"It's not because Glee Club is over that you have to ignore us like we never meant anything to you for all these years," Santana hissed. "Pushing us away one by one like you don't give a shit won't make the pain you will feel by watching us go on with our lives disappear."

Her chest was heaving with each erratic breath she was taking and she was clenching her fists, shaking with rage. Quinn was looking at her without saying anything.

The HBIC fights were over for her for a long time. She didn't have the strength to fight anymore.

"Because yes, Quinn," Santana continued, walking closer once again. "I know that somewhere deep down, behind this heart of stone…"

The blonde watched her tapping her chest with an aggressive finger without reacting.

"…there is a little girl who will cry when she will realize she doesn't have any contact anymore with any of us because she was too scared to love."

The very clear vision of Rachel shining on stage for the Sectionals as she was boggling everyone with her perfect cover of _Don't Rain On My Parade _came to Quinn immediately. That day, she hadn't been able to look away from the petite brunette. She hadn't even thought of fighting it.

She would have felt the same if Santana had punched her in the stomach.

"So stop a moment and think about the giant mistake you're making; and instead of being stubborn and staying on this patio, come with us to watch this fucking movie."

"But I've already seen it…." She replied weakly.

"And so did I. And so did Brittany," Santana retorted. "And it's not as good as the time we watched it together. The blood spatters don't even look real!"

She turned around.

"Britt suffers more than you want to see, you know?" She heard her add on a pained tone. "But she cares so much about others' happiness that she would rather suffer in silence than show it even for just a second."

"It's Brittany," Quinn whispered, eyes glued on the floor.

"Yes, it's Brittany. And you're Quinn, the girl always looking for excuses to justify her actions. The one whose nothing can equal her cowardice."

She stopped on the doorway, and without turning around, added:

"So you better hurry! I still hate you, but there's enough room for three on our couch!"

…

…

…

Santana walked in the living-room as discreetly as possible. No-one noticed her anyway, because they were at the moment of the movie when it was all getting worse. Santana sat next to Brittany, and, thinking back to what Quinn had said, turned toward her to observe her carefully. With the TV's light, her face's traits had something hypnotic and her big blue eyes already beautiful were bringing out with even more brightness. Their gaze met and they looked at each other without saying anything. The young woman was still disappointed not to see Quinn joining them. Santana smiled softly at her and, in the room's darkness, leaned in slowly. She stopped a few inches away from her and their noses brushed. She could feel the warmness exuding from the one who had stolen her heart a few years ago. Her peaceful breathing was tinkling her cheek and she felt her relaxing, waiting for her to make the first move. Santana closed the distance and their lips finally met. This kiss wasn't passionate like the others they had shared earlier today, but was softer. Santana wished with her everything that Brittany understood she wasn't ashamed of her and that she loved her more than anything. Behind them, the women's screams were resounding with force, but they could barely hear it, as if the two girls weren't even in the room anymore. Santana placed one hand on Brittany's burning cheek and gripped softly her thigh with the other. She felt the blonde wrapping her arms around her neck, pulling her even closer. Her heart was pounding in her chest, like it wanted to jump out of it and fly away, and Santana leaned completely against Brittany to keep it from doing such thing. She instantly felt the other's heart beating just as fast.

They pulled away slowly and exchanged a look. Santana stroked her cheek one last time before laying down comfortably, her head resting on Brittany's lap. She tried to focus on the screen but the way the women were all being killed one by one didn't stop her smile to grow each second.

"Hey, Britt?" She whispered.

"Yes?" She heard the other answer above her.

"I think I'm in love with you." She murmured, dreamily.

Brittany brushed her hair gently.

"I'm more in love with you? I win."

They didn't even jolt when Rachel, Kurt and Tina screamed, seeing a creature appear on the screen out of nowhere, as Mercedes was jolting so violently next to them that Mike and Sam's slices of pizza were thrown across the room.

Quinn arrived a few minutes later and sat on the Unholy Trinity's couch. She pretended to hide her face in disgust at the sight of the creature attacking one of the survivors, but in reality she was hiding the smile she hadn't been able to hold back seeing Brittany and Santana cuddling.


	7. Falling Out Of The Trees

Hello guys! Again, sorry for the long wait.. But you know how it is Summer holidays, you think you're gonna have more free time to do all the things you want, including updating, but turns out you don't habe enought time at all. It's even worse! Anyway, this chapter is totally worth it. I know I loved it when I read it in French :)

New followers, you're not gonna regret it! Thanks for the reviews also :)

imaferrari: What an unusual username :P Thanks for the review, it is always appreciated. I'm really sorry for the mistakes, I usually translate the entire chapter in one day and then I'm too lazy to read myself to check if there are any mistakes... But when I read again later, I find them, too. So I'll try to be more careful! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter anyway :)

* * *

« This was the most inappropriate movie I've ever seen!" Rachel exclaimed with an unusual high-pitched voice.

She was sat at the kitchen table and was still shaking. She had spent half of the movie in such a clenching state that her neck and back were now unpleasantly throbbing. Finn's body had been a weak protection against all the images passing on the screen and even if she had spent most of the time burying her face in his chest, she was sure to have seen each horror scenes like she had actually been there.

"Rachel, your tolerance concerning horror movies is even more mediocre than mine," Kurt commented, observing her from his chair. "That's saying something."

Next to him, Blaine couldn't hold back a smile.

"I can't go in this cave in two days," she whispered on a toneless voice.

"Yet you will have to," Mercedes said, finishing to wash the glasses in the sink. "At least you're not alone. I don't think Tina will be able to sleep soundly tonight."

Finn and Puck walked in the kitchen, holding each other by the shoulders. It only took Rachel to lay her eyes on her boyfriend's goofy smile to understand that he had drunk. Mercedes noticed the bottle Puck as holding.

"You two are seriously impossible!" She said annoyed. "The movie is barely over and you take advantage of it to take the bottles?"

She threatened them with her dishcloth.

"If I see someone throwing up, I make them eat it! And I don't want anything to be destroyed!"

"Don't worry, Mercedes, we will be extremely careful," Finn reassured her with his signature stupid smile.

"Puckzilla has everything under control!" Puck said throwing the bottle in the bin.

He held his drink better than Finn and it would have been impossible to say how much he had already drunk. He looked completely sober.

"Eh, Mercedes!" Tina said, standing in the doorway.

Rachel stared at her without a word, trying to see whether she had drunk or not. She only looked happy.

"Do you mind if we put some music?"

Mercedes sighed in defeat.

"Go ahead, go ahead!" She allowed her.

Tina disappeared instantly.

"It's okay, Sam!" They heard her shout.

The music echoed in the entire house and Blaine squealed in excitement, jumping off his chair. He grabbed Kurt's hand but this one protested.

"Come on!" He begged him with a wide smile.

"I won't get involved in this," Kurt replied coldly.

Beside them, Finn was trying to do the same with Rachel.

"Come on, Rach!" He said enthusiastically. "Come dance with me!"

"Stop!" She said with a laugh. "You know I hate techno music!"

"Why does it matter when you can dance with me?"

Convinces, she grabbed his hand and stood up.

"I promise you I won't crush your feet!" He said, making her swirl gently.

The young woman's contagious laugh echoed in the room.

Kurt ended up giving in as well and they were now all dancing in the middle of the kitchen. Mercedes had even accepted Puck's chivalrous invitation and she was laughing loudly as he was offering her some rum. Sam and Mike burst in the room. They had first came to take some alcohol, but seeing they looked like they were all having fun here, they joined them excitedly.

"Come in the living room, you idiots!" Tina said with a laugh.

After several minutes of complete confusion where they all had to repeat to each other what she had said because only Rachel had heard, Mike and Sam formed an Indian file, everybody joining them, and walked out of the kitchen like that. When she saw them, Tina, sat on Artie, greeted them joyfully raising her glass.

Mercedes, who was the first against this party, didn't seem to care anymore and was laughing loudly, accepting without thinking twice the glasses Mike was handing her. On the couch, Santana was still laid on Brittany and they were sharing the tequila observing the others swaying in the middle on the room. Quinn was silently sat on the other end of the couch, keeping a reasonable distance with the bottles. She didn't trust herself enough for even just a sip. Her gaze slid uncontrollably toward Rachel, who was dancing awkwardly with Finn, holding his hand. Seeing this shining face, the blonde's heart skipped a beat. Near the HI-FI system, Blaine and Kurt were bouncing, laughing, and the Hummel son wasn't as reluctant as he was five minutes ago. He didn't even protest when his boyfriend tousled his hair.

"Hey, Baby Mama!"

Quinn looked up and spotted Puck handing her his rum bottle.

She looked at it without a care.

"No thanks," she simply said.

"Come on! It will help you loosen up!"

She clenched her fists.

"Screw you, Puck," she hissed.

"You weren't saying that three weeks ago," he replied with a smirk.

She looked around quickly to check no-one had heard. When she turned back to him, her ex-HBIC face could be seen and the glare she sent him made him feel nostalgic.

"Shut up and go offer your bottle to somebody else." She said through gritted teeth.

He shrugged and walked away.

Quinn leaned against the couch, trying to relax. _Raise Your Glass _started to play and Blaine started to sing along loudly to Kurt, while Brittany was making the couch tremble by bouncing on it.

"San, I love this song! Come dance with me!"

But Santana was laying lazily on her and after a sip of tequila, said on an indolent voice:

"No way, Britt, I'm good in your arms. I won't move from here."

Brittany groaned in protest.

"San! My legs can't take it anymore, they need to move!"

Santana placed the bottle on the floor and sitting up slightly, grabbed Brittany by her shirt's collar. The blonde tried to resist.

"I don't want to be you priso-…"

The Latina shut her mouth by pressing her lips against hers, which made the blonde moan. Quinn looked away quickly, embarrassed by the intimacy of the moment. She got a sight of Brittany's had sliding toward Santana's butt and stood up quickly to go grab a glass of water in the kitchen. She walked carefully by Mercedes and Tina who were laughing happily dancing around Artie, barely avoided Mike, Sam and Puck rushing toward the coffee table to get another drink and Ke$ha started to play when she finally made it to the kitchen. She blamed Sam for his horrible taste in music while serving herself some water. The liquid slightly cooled her off and she turned around to put down her drink just when Rachel was walking in. She froze and stared at her. The diva had messy hair and her summer dress was disheveled. Quinn found herself unable to look away and she felt her cheeks turning red.

"Oh sorry, Quinn, am I bothering you?" Rachel asked quickly, out of breath.

The blonde served herself more water and drank it on one shot, hoping to ease the fire burning inside of her. She ignored Rachel's question.

"You want some water?" She asked on a soft tone.

The petite brunette nodded vigorously, rounding the table to come closer.

"Oh yes, if you don't mind. Finn is horrible when he drinks! I told him to be careful!"

Quinn held back a smile as she saw Rachel's pout and focused on the glass she was filling with water.

"What has he done this time?" She asked.

"He crushed my feet at least seven times! I can't feel them anymore."

She took the glass with gratitude and drank it all. Quinn observed her curiously. The young woman usually looked scared, or at least uncomfortable around her. But here, she looked perfectly relaxed.

"Rachel?" Quinn whispered.

The diva turned toward her, giving her a questioning look.

"Are you drunk?"

Rachel frowned.

"Not a chance!" She said with spirit. "I never remember what I did when I'm drunk but I've heard of it, and I don't want to make a fool of myself without having any control on it!"

Quinn couldn't stop the smile that formed on her lips this time. Rachel was simply in a good mood.

"What's wrong?" She immediately worried, because when Quinn was smiling around her it was usually to make fun of her.

The ex-HBIC turned around to place the glasses in the sink.

"It makes us the only two people sober here," she stated, raising her eyebrows.

"What? No, Kurt didn't drink. Neither did Blaine!"

"Trust me, I saw." Quinn assured her with a nod.

It was so weird to have a normal conversation with Rachel. She was leaned against the table, two feet away from her, and Quinn could feel her heart pounding in her chest. All of this because of her presence. In that moment, she mentally patted herself for only drinking water, because the simple sight of the young woman in front of her, out of breath and cheeks still red because of the dancing, made her want to jump on her. Damn, this dress looked good on her.

"This dress looks really good on you." She said before she could stop it.

She immediately wanted to hit her head against the sideboard behind her. What was the point in being sober if the atmosphere was enough to make her say everything she was supposed to keep to herself aloud?

"Oh, uh, thank you very much, Quinn." Rachel thanked her slightly taken aback.

They stared at each other in silence, Quinn doing everything she could to hold the brunette's gaze so she wouldn't look even more dubious. If Rachel Berry realized Quinn Fabray was impressed by her, she wouldn't know how to act around her anymore.

"Rach, Raaaaach!"

Finn walked in stumbling. He was sweating.

"F-Finn," the diva stuttered turning around quickly.

"Jesus," Quinn whispered, walking closer to have a better view. "He's totally wasted…"

Rachel looked embarrassed, not knowing what to do with her boyfriend.

"Raaach, come back to dance!" Finn whined grabbing her by the waist. "If you want, I'll only move my hands if you're scared for your feet!"

Rachel looked at him with a soft smile, and with a last apologetic smile toward Quinn, let him drag her to the living-room. Quinn stayed a moment standing in the middle of the kitchen, helpless. Finn stole Rachel away from her even when she was trying to have a friendly conversation with her. That's how it was, that's how it had always been. If Quinn could, she would have counted the few moments they could have shared as friends. But Rachel and her weren't friends, and for the reason that Quinn couldn't share Rachel. She was Finn's, Finn was Rachel's. Quinn didn't have a place in the middle of this. And she was so used to it that she only smiled sadly before walking out of the kitchen as well.

In the living-room, the atmosphere was even more chaotic than when she had left. Mike, Sam and Puck were probably the one holding their drinks the best, which wasn't stopping them from being the loudest ones. Tina was swaying on the music on Artie's lap, and sometimes laughed when Mercedes would hit the furniture. This one was holding onto Puck's arms, and it was hard to know why, but both were laughing. Kurt and Blaine were laid next to each other on a couch, and the ex-Warbler was pointing to the ceiling. Kurt was nodding before sitting up to take another sip of his drink before showing something as well to his boyfriend. As for Rachel, she was doing her best to avoid Finn's feet, but this was getting harder and harder. Santana was now straddling Brittany, arms wrapped around her neck, and the blonde was tapping her ass on the music's rhythm as they continued to kiss fiercely. They had emptied the tequila bottle on their own and it was now resting on the floor, near the couch. Seeing them, Quinn couldn't help but think back of the first party Rachel had thrown, when the Latina was in the exact same position, but with Sam underneath.

The bottles and cups were noticeably getting empty. Soon, Mercedes, Tina and Kurt collapsed on a couch, exhausted and clearly wasted. Quinn had ended up giving in and had served herself a glass of vodka. She had taken one last glance toward Rachel and Finn, who were now kissing passionately, before raising her glass and drinking it all. The burning liquid had let her throat on fire, but at least she felt lighter. Deciding it wasn't enough, though, she had taken another drink, forgetting the promise she had made to herself. Despite it all, it wouldn't take away the churning feeling she felt every time she would look at the couple.

She knew she shouldn't have come.

She had ended up standing up and stumbling toward the tiny library on the first floor. There, she had sat comfortably on a seat and had buried her face in her hands, waiting for her headache to go away. The cottage's walls were weakly isolated. Even with the door closed, Quinn could still hear the music and screams. She didn't understand how the boys could do such a racket when it was nearly one in the morning, when they had drunk all of the bottles and they had all spent two days in a car.

Quinn didn't feel like she belonged here.

The library's clock said it was three when the door was widely opened, revealing a wasted Rachel.

"Oh Quinn, here you are!" She said with a giggle. "I looked for you everywhere. I thought you had left for our lost town!"

Quinn stood up immediately.

"Rachel, didn't you say you wouldn't drink?"

The diva frowned, as if she was trying to remember what Quinn was talking about.

"Oh but I didn't drink anything!" She eventually said on a furred voice. "I mean _almost _anything! It's just that…"

She hiccupped.

"… It's just that Finn was sooooooo drunk that I got tired of it and I went to play with the boys. It was a fun game by the way!"

Quinn's eyes widened as she imagined the worse, which pushed Rachel to quickly add:

"Oh no not that!"

She couldn't hold back her amused laugh.

"We played this game… I didn't really understand the point but you choose even or odd, and you throw a dice. And it falls on what you predicted, you have to drink!"

Quinn looked at her, bewildered.

"It's stupid. It's one way ticket to Wasted Land!"

She leaned against the door frame with a numb arm. The vodka was still misting her mind.

"Oh but I was careful!" Rachel assured her with a wave of her hand. "I only drank wine!"

Her eyes landed on Quinn's corsage. The blonde covered it with her hand. Rachel has this bad habit of observing every chest she could see when she was drunk. The blonde still remembered the way she had looked at her on the first party taking place at her place.

"But now that I think about it," the brunette mumbled. "Puck told me I wasn't funny and challenged me to drink more serious alcohol so then I drank whisky. And I don't remember what happened next. It's a bit blurry."

Her brown eyes focused on Quinn's skeptical face.

"Anyway, here's the story!" At least no-one can be mad at me for doing something stupid tonight, they're all too drunk to remember anything!"

She noticed the glass she was holding and looked at Quinn.

"You want some?" She offered, holding out her hand so quickly she almost punched her in the stomach.

"Oh no, I've already had two glasses of vodka and it was more than enough…" The blonde refused immediately with a polite smile.

"Less or more, it won't change a thing!"

Quinn observed Rachel's joyful face, then the glass. She perfectly knew that what she was doing was stupid. But Rachel was offering her to drink. Rachel. She looked at her again. Then the glass. Then Rachel again, cause she was so much better to look at than the glass.

"Oh, after all." She gave in with a shrug.

She didn't really understand why or how she had let herself do that, but she emptied it completely.

"Now I have a favor to ask you!" The diva exclaimed.

Quinn's head was already spinning. She really couldn't hold her drink. And it was dangerous, considering she had Rachel in front of her. She tried to hold on the desperate thought that she could hold on a week without doing anything stupid, and then Rachel would be gone for New York. She suddenly felt like crying.

"Actually, I really need to pee but I'm too scared to go outside after seeing this horrible movie, and Finn can barely stand, I wouldn't feel comfortable asking one of the guys to escort me seeing as they're all drunk, Mercedes, Kurt and Tina all fell asleep and I don't think I can ask Brittany and Santana…"

A silence followed. Rachel's words were hard to put together for Quinn's brain.

"Blue strand?" She eventually said before bursting out laughing.

She instantly choked it with her hand seeing Rachel's lost eyes.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"I don't understand," the diva said slowly.

"Well you see, in those espionage movies, when in the end the bomb is about to explode they had to cut the red strand or the blue strand and since you were talking like it was very complicated conundrum well…"

She was interrupted by Rachel's laugh. The girl lost her balance and tried to hold herself by placing an hand on Quinn's collarbone.

"Oops, sorry!"

Quinn stepped back abruptly like she had been burnt but Rachel didn't notice, too busy swaying. She held herself as best as she could on the closest armchair.

"So if understood correctly," Quinn said rubbing mechanically the skin that had been touched by Rachel. "I'm the only one who can come with you?"

"Yes, that's it! I don't wanna be alone outside, who knows what could happen to me?"

The blonde looked away and tried to ignore the irritation she felt at the idea of being only there to help Rachel when no-one else was there to do it. She always came last. It was her own fault, though.

She walked quickly by Rachel and the last almost collided with the door as she tried to catch up with her.

Quinn walked up the stairs without checking whether the brunette was following or nor, and turned on the attic's light.

"Oh! A piano!" The other girl said rushing toward the instrument in the corner.

Dust flew when she opened it. Quinn did her best to ignore her and opened the closet in front of her.

"Ah, here are the torch lamps," she mumbled.

She tried to crouch but her legs wiggled and she hit her head against a shelf.

"Ouch…"

Messy notes echoed in the room. Quinn instantly recognized the _Get It Right _theme. She turned around slowly and laid an empty look on Rachel, who couldn't see her from there, sat on the piano's bench. She didn't know if it was the alcohol or just the memory of a period where she had never been this close to Rachel by pretending to hate her to reach her goals, but the notes pierced her brain like hundreds of needles. She grabbed a lamp and stood up, slamming the closet's door.

"_Berry, _why are you playing this?"

She walked closer, trying to stay calm. The young girl played a few more notes before stopping.

"But it's our song, Quinn!" She exclaimed, turning around with a wide smile. "You remember, don't you? When you pretended to be my friend and all, before throwing me to the ground to crush me better! It must have been so much fun for you!"

While saying this, she was smiling widely, and this was probably worse than any hurt look she could have sent to her. Quinn felt like she was being slapped for the second time today.

"It's not funny at all. Come on, we had to go to the toilet, rememeber?"

"Buuuuut, Quinn, don't you want to remember good old times?"

"Berry, when I say enough it's _enough_!" She hissed grabbing her arm to drag her downstairs.

Rachel was too drunk to even think of protesting and they walked down the stairs without too much difficulty, except one time when the diva almost fell over the guardrail and almost undressed the blonde by gripping her cardigan to keep herself stable.

Quinn walked faster as soon as she saw Finn coming in their direction. She didn't need this.

"Raaaaaaach, Raaaaaach! Where are you going?"

Quinn kept walking in huge strides, her fingers tightly wrapped around Rachel's wrist, but the girl stopped in her tracks to turn around, and it would have been kidnapping if she had continued to drag her behind her like that.

"I'm going to the toilet, Finn, don't worry." She said, pouncing toward him.

Quinn let her go with a glare sent in Finn's direction before going to take something to drink in the kitchen. She put the torch lamp down the table abruptly and opened the sideboard to scrutinize its contents. She didn't care anymore about staying sober. It's not like she was anyway.

She grabbed a scotch bottle and opened it with a trembling hand. She approached the neck to smell the aroma. The smell was way too familiar to her. Before even understanding what she was doing, she was emptying the bottle in the sink. An acrid and intoxicating smell instantly filled the room.

"Quinn?"

She turned around abruptly, the half-filled bottle still in her hands. Rachel was standing in the doorway, swaying from one foot to another.

"What are you-"

She noticed the scotch and looked at Quinn skeptically.

"Quinn! You could have called me when you opened it!"

Before she had time to hide the bottle, Rachel took it from her hands and drank two long sips.

"Goddamnit, Rachel. I though you didn't want to drink too much tonight."

"That was before I get drunk!" She said with a laugh.

"Rachel…"

"Oh, you're calling me by my name again! That's good, you have to stop with the nicknames, we're not in high school anymore. We graduateeeeeed!"

"Berry."

"What, no no no stop this! Next time we see each other, you will have to call me by my name. You will sound immature otherwise."

"We won't see each other again."

"Of course we will, why wouldn't we? Maybe we won't have a cottage where to go, but when I will win my first Tony, I probably will have enough money to buy a summer house!"

"We won't see each other again."

Rachel took another sip before putting the bottle down and looking at Quinn with an awkward smile.

"Oh yes, that's right. You can't stand me."

…

…

_Quinn wanted to cry. She didn't understand what was going on. She couldn't describe the feelings she was experiencing in that very moment. She felt herself flickering and mechanically held the metallic guardrail tighter. Beside her, she could feel Santana's suspicious look on her and put on her emotionless mask. But there was something broken inside her. She felt naked, she couldn't understand what was happening to her. It was the first time of her life she felt like this._

_"Look at this, girls," coach Sylvester whispered on her side. "Here is a nice losers' band only waiting for me to crush them. I will use their blood for my next cheerleaders' outfit and I will make a wig of their hair to offer it to Schuester during the Spanish Teachers Who Seriously Need A New Haircut's National Day. We will crush them one by one, and I'm sure you won't see any problem in helping me."_

_Santana smiled, satisfied. Quinn pretended to agree but her eyes were glued to the stage, down there._

_The minute Finn had opened his mouth, this content smile he was wearing every time she would see him had played on his face. She hated the idea of him joining Glee Club but had to admit he had a nice voice. For a straight football player, he was a really good singer, she thought. It had been a year now that they were dating, and she still really liked the boy. Seeing him shining on stage like that, she understood why._

_Then there was this petite brunette who had walked on stage and took the lead as easily as she was talking, and Quinn had been this close to collapse in front of Coach Sylvester and Santana. The teenager's voice had split her heart open in two and had overwhelmed her. Finn was a joke compared to her. His voice was just a background noise. Other figures were just strangers performing an elementary choreography. Quinn's gaze had stopped on her eyes filled with stars, her shining face, and the way she had to sing each note like it was her last performance. She had felt weird when the singer had turned around and she had suddenly got a very nice view on her back and this jean hugging her tight. She would have wanted to look away, see how Finn was doing, if he was still smiling like a child, but her gaze hadn't followed. It was literally glued to the teenager._

_She couldn't understand why Rachel Berry, the girl she was tormenting with such application for now a year, was having such an effect on her._

_"So, Q," Santana whispered on a conspiracy tone. "Do you have as many ideas as I do to destroy them?"_

_Quinn's knuckles turned white as she tightened her grip on the guardrail. The scene turned into something blurry and before she could even stop them, she felt tears running down her cheeks._

_"…Q? Don't tell me you're crying?"_

_She felt Sue's gaze on her._

_"Those are tears of rage," she managed to say between to choked sobs. "This shapeless dwarf is literally undressing him with her eyes. I won't let her get away with this, trust me."_

_She didn't even know anymore who she was talking about, if it was Finn, who was her boyfriend, or Noah Puckermand, who had been flirting with her for a long time already. But she was focusing all of her energy on the anger burning inside of her, lost between all of those other emotions she didn't know how to handle._

_"I knew there was a reason why I named you Captain," Sue congratulated, patting her shoulder with a satisfied look._

_"In about a week, there will be only Schue left in this pathetic club," Santana added._

_Quinn nodded, throat knotted, and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. Rachel came back in sight and she focused on being angry at her._

_She was going to make her life a living-hell. _

_That night, Quinn sat at the dinner table without her cross and spent three hours ordering her room._

_…_

_…_

Quinn was staring at her, completely aghast. She could see this young woman standing in front of her. Her red cheeks clearly showing that she had drunk a lot more than what she had planned, her glassy eyes that alcohol made impossible to read, her mouth where some scotch was dripping, her thin and fragile hands holding the bottle's neck like it was something really precious, her tiny and desirable body a few feet away from her, in that kitchen. She had been in love with her for such a long time. Those feelings troubling her every time she would see her, hear her, think about her, hadn't disappeared since the first time she experienced them, three years ago. She loved everything about her. She loved her too much. Everything would be over soon. Rachel would leave for New York. With Finn. The ordeal would be over. Quinn would congratulate herself for holding on so long without trying to make her understand what she really felt. Without letting it show, not even once. She had done so well! She still didn't understand how she had done it. She could be proud of her.

And suddenly, all of that sounded ridiculous. She had gone through all of this for what? To end up the same way.

"Yes, I forgot you can't stand me. Sorry, it must be the alcohol."

The diva was still smiling this same awkward smile, like the deception of not being able to make Quinn a friend had turned into a disillusioned irony. Yes, it was funny when you thought of it. The Head Cheerleader Quinn Fabray. Who ended up without nothing and no-one, trying to stop loving the one who had been in her mind for such a long time. And who was dating her first love. Or who she had thought was her first love.

Because Rachel was her first love.

Quinn clenched her fists and contained the urge she had to cry. She didn't understand anything anymore. Where was the satisfaction of holding on for so long when Rachel would only remember her as the girl who had spent so many years tormenting her? She wouldn't have her place in the thanking speeches when she would win her first awards. There would be a place for Finn, for Kurt, even for Mercedes! She would only be a painful past's shadow.

The fragrances coming from the sink were now filling the room with strong smell. Quinn felt like she had really drunk that scotch after all. As for Rachel, who had actually drunk it, seemed to be emboldened enough to look at Quinn the way she really saw her: a nobody.

"You know, Quinn," she said on an amused tone, her voice slightly raspy because of the alcohol. "I never understood why you were doing all of this. Insults, slushies, day by day, week by week. I mean… It never made sense to me. Finn and I, we were meant to be as soon as our eyes met, so why having tried to stop it? By pure malice? I didn't find it faire back then. Then I got used to it. At some point, when I was seeing a cheerleader or hearing your name, I was calmly thinking of what would happen to me the next day since you weren't there in that moment and that I didn't have to feel scared for now."

She pouted slightly, agitating to bottle to accentuate her words.

"Then there was this moment when you tried to befriend me. I found that weird at first, and then I thought that after all, people grow up, evaluate, so why wouldn't you be able to do such thing? But there was always Finn. You were jealous, envious and desperate to get him back. You would come in between us every time you could. It was really stupid, I even ended up hating you. Why so much obstinacy, Quinn? Why so much zeal? Finn and I are going to New York now, I guess you don't have feelings for him anymore. And this is old history between us, isn't it? But despite everything, I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive you all the things you've done to me because you couldn't have what I ended up getting. Finn was the source of our fights, and I was convinced it was the reason why we couldn't be friends. But eventually I understood that, on your side, you simply didn't care about me. Actually, I even wonder how I could believe for one second that we could become friends just because we were over this stupid love triangle! It was completely _exuberant_! I have no idea what crossed my mind, I was really stupid! I hope I got better ever since, though, because it was only a few months ago."

The tone was light and amused, but behind those words, Quinn could guess that Rachel was clearly telling her she would remember her as someone who had spent most of her time making her suffer. She already knew that, but had never heard anyone actually say it aloud. She thought she was going to collapse on the kitchen's floor.

It was the goal. It had always been the goal. She got what she wanted. She had whished for Rachel to hate her so much she wouldn't have to try to stay away from her because the diva would avoid her herself, and here they were. All this nightmare was finally paying.

Quinn should have had this satisfied feeling like she had pictured it so many times. This feeling of having overcome something extremely difficult. And here she was. It was her moment. Her love for Rachel was still there. She could feel it at the way she would look for her every time they were in the same room. She still had this attraction toward her. She had never loved anyone like she loved her.

But it was it. Rachel was leaving for New York. She would forget her. She would live her life. She would become famous and get what she deserved. This was how things were supposed to be. It would happen like this because Quinn had done everything for it.

Instead of that, Quinn felt this close to break down. She wanted to cry till she would run out of tears. She had missed so many things in her life. She had missed so many things and her most beautiful failure surely was her relationship with Rachel. The diva would have never loved her like this, but they could have at least been friends. Quinn felt like throwing up as she thought of the relationship she could have had with her if she had been strong enough to make abstraction of her feelings.

It was too late.

Those years had gone so fast.

"I mean, Quinn," Rachel continued after another sip of scotch. "We can't erase the past. That's how it is. Rachel Berry and Quinn Fabray. End of story…that never happened actually."

She observed the bottle a moment, before laying her glassy eyes back on Quinn.

"You know what? I'm happy this is all behind me… I'm gonna go to New York and make my dream come true. And Finn and I are in love more than ever, it's fantastic, isn't it?"

She really looked happy.

"But well," she said with a shrug. "You still can't stand me. You hate me. I shouldn't have acted like it wasn't accurate anymore."

It was too much. Quinn pounced forward and grabbed the brunette's burning face between her hands. The scotch aroma still floating in the kitchen was making her head spin. She crashed her lips against Rachel's and closed her eyes to block out her confused expression. The diva let go of the bottle, which crashed on the floor between them both with a thud. But Quinn didn't hear it. All she could feel was her heart pounding in her chest. The blood pulsing in her temples was making her dizzy and she felt like her body was on fire. She could feel Rachel's soft and warm skin beneath her fingers, her drunken breath panting in her opened mouth and all her body so close to hers. This body she had imagined so many times pressed up against hers, just like those lips she had dreamed of tasting. But the thought that all of this was as palpable and real than ephemeral finished fixing the despair she had felt while hearing Rachel's words.

Her eyes tore up and she found herself crying, covering her face and the diva's with salty and bitter tears.

Rachel didn't move. She didn't push her away either. She was holding her hands still, like the bottle hadn't fallen. Quinn felt like she was raising herself on tip-toe to press their faces closer but it was hard for her to be sure of anything considering her state of mind and she was soon shaking with sobs. She hadn't imagined their first kiss like that. She had always thought there would never be one. But here it was. It was the first and probably the last, and they were both drunk. And Rachel had just told her with long sentences what a failure their relationship was. And Quinn had kissed her without thinking. And the whole Glee Club was in the nearby room, wasted.

It was both the worst kiss she could have ever imagined and the most beautiful one, because she had never thought it could actually happen someday. She wanted to remember the feeling of their faces pressed against one another, of the taste of Rachel's lips, of her heart hammering in her chest when for the first time in her life she could have Rachel to herself.

Her hands eventually slid off the brunette's face as she collapsed at her feet, unable to hold back her tears. Her fingers were already missing the warm contact of Rachel's cheeks, she wanted to feel her mouth against hers a little bit longer, and even if the alcohol and this kiss had left her searing, she felt chilled to the bone without Rachel's body against hers.

The unpleasant sensation of feeling incomplete without this person she would never have made her want to throw up. She covered her mouth with her hand to choke out a whine. She looked up and, wiping away her tears blinding her, noticed Rachel hadn't moved and was observing her with stupor. They contemplated each other a moment without a word, Quinn on her knees and the diva staring at her like never before. Before the blonde could understand what was happening, the diva flip-flopped and left her there without adding anything.

When her uncontrollable sobs stopped, Quinn gripped the edge of the sink and stood up laboriously, wobbling considerably. She ogled toward the glass pieces on the floor, inhaled the strong smell of scotch and frowned as she tried to remember the sanction Mercedes had promised to them if something like this happened.

But who cared anyway?

Her thoughts didn't exactly make sense anymore and all she could feel was the burning sensation Rachel's lips had left on her. She stumbled to the door and leaned against the frame, almost losing balance. Despite of her amazement state, she recognized _I Don't Feel Like Dancing _playing in the background. The living-room's atmosphere wasn't what it had been a few hours ago anymore. Puck, Sam and Mike were all sprawling on the floor and were dozing, a whisky bottle placed between their legs. Artie, Mercedes and Tina were all sleeping soundly on the couch, like dominos, and Finn was sleeping on the sofa next to them. There were only Santana and Brittany who were wide awake. Quinn's gaze slid toward them. Her eyebrows rose up so high that they disappeared under her blond hair. With the subdued light she hadn't understood what the two girls were doing and had supposed that Santana had got tired of kissing Brittany. But the truth was, the blonde's hoodie and the Latina's shirt were on the floor beside the couch, and squinting her eyes, Quinn spotted a black bra laying on Finn's stomach, totally oblivious to what was going on a few feet away from him, and another red one was on the couch were Mercedes was loudly snoring. Her brain took a while to understand she wasn't supposed to look, slowed down by the alcohol. Her dark hazel eyes stopped on Santana's sweaty back and her black jeans she was still wearing hugging her perfectly. Brittany's face was hidden by the long brown hair but Quinn could see her thin fingers running along her girlfriend's body, eventually gripping her waist eagerly. Santana choked a moan and Quinn reluctantly covered her eyes, trying to snap out of it. She wasn't supposed to see that. She was supposed to be dead drunk like everybody else and not remembering anything the next morning. She stumbled to the stairs, and her eyes stopped against her will on Santana's bare breasts for a short second. Quinn hated herself.

She wobbled in the first floor's darkness and her eyes eventually got used to the weak light diffused by the bedside lamp in a corner.

Blaine and Kurt were sleeping in each other's arms on the unfolded couch and the huge bed was right next to it. She could almost hear it inviting her to lay down on it. Her head was pounding, she felt like her entire body was in fire and she just wanted to sleep.

She collapsed on the thick and fluffy mattress and buried her head in the bolster.

"Quinn?" She heard a furred voice calling above her.

She turned around quickly. Rachel was wobbling on the side of the bed, a bottle in the hand. Quinn's heart started beating faster in her chest, like every time she would see her. But this time, the beats were more painful. She had kissed that girl.

Her eyes slid toward her reddened face.

"Do you mind if I use the bed? I'm too drunk to unfold a sleeping bag and the floor isn't really comfortable anyway…"

Quinn stared at her without a word. She had no idea where she was coming from.

"… Sure…" She eventually said with a nod.

"Can I bring my bottle with me?" The diva asked pointing toward it.

"Alright, but recap it first."

"I can't find it… The stopper I mean…"

With a sigh, Quinn sat up slowly to take the bottle off of her hands. Rachel let it go without protesting and the blonde placed it on the floor. She moved to the right and tapped the space beside her.

"Come here."

Rachel collapsed on the mattress. Quinn gave her one last glance before turning on her side, her back facing Rachel. A silence followed. The two boys were sleeping opposite of her. They both had a lazy smile on their face and she could hear their peaceful snore.

"Rach?" She whispered.

The diva moved and Quinn guesses she was turning toward her.

"Is it… What do you think?" She whispered again.

She felt so vulnerable.

"What do I think? Of what?"

The blonde was picturing her frowning as she tried to understand. Quinn held the bolster with her burning hands and after hesitating, breathed out:

"Our kiss."

There was a wavering moment, and Rachel let out a giggle.

"We were completely drunk, it was stupid."

She giggled a bit more at the idea. Quinn's heart tightened and she strengthened her grip around the bolster to hold back her tears. She had been pathetic enough for today.

"Goodnight, Rachel…" She whispered on a shaky voice.

The other girl answered with a sigh and even with her depressed state, the blonde thought she was finally gonna be able to sleep.

The next second, the mattress was moving. Rachel let out a groan and laid her entire body on top of Quinn's. Thinking the petite brunette had forgotten she was sharing a bed with Quinn Fabray, she tried to sit up.

"Berry, what are you doing?" She stuttered with panic in her voice.

"Just one last sip," she mumbled, stretching out her arm to grab the bottle placed near the bedside table.

Quinn observed her drink straight from the bottle, hypnotized. She had never seen Rachel drink _that much. _

The girl turned her eyes toward her as she was taking one last sip. Quinn felt busted, checking her out like she was.

"Want some?" She asked with a smile handing her the bottle.

The ex-HBIC's eyes lingered over her glassy eyes and she remembered that breaking her promise had pushed her to kiss her three hours later.

"No, I'll be fine, Rachel."

The brunette shrugged, drank a bit more before putting the bottle back down. She laid back down and Quinn let out a sigh of relief, now freed of Rachel's body on hers. She turned her back to her and tried to relax.

"Quinn?"

"What now?" She asked, slightly annoyed.

She felt Rachel's body suddenly pressing against hers and her arm went to wrap around her waist.

"Goodnight." She whispered with a yawn, and her drunken breath tickled her ear.

Quinn wanted to push her away and go to sleep in the living-room with Brittany and Santana having sex right under her nose, she didn't care. In that moment she hated Rachel. She was dreaming of only one thing: to turn around and hit her. But she didn't find the strength to do so. She was exhausted and she had to admit it was far from unpleasing.

She took Rachel's hand that was resting on her waist and closed her eyes.


	8. Get Up

Hey guys! Sorry for the late update and the long wait that goes with it. With the new school year and all the assignments i was kinda busy lately so I try my best but well...

Anyway! I hope you will enjoy this new chapter and I'll try to post the next one as soon as possible :) Thanks for the reviews, it's always appreciated, and thanks to the people following this story!

IloveDiannaAgron: Quinn will indeed go through a lot during this story and you will find out a lot about her past and why she's acting that way. I'm really excited to get to the part in the cave because that's when people's true feelings and nature is revealed and well, I won't spoil you, but you're nto done feeling sorrow for Quinn Fabray.. You will love it, though :)

imaferrari: Hello again! I won't repeat what I said above cause it's basically the same. The cave doesn't happen until a few more chapters so patience, my dear! :)

* * *

Mercedes sat up with a growl. Her back was hurting like hell, and she felt like a mechanic monkey was playing the cymbals in her head.

Through the cracks of the closed shutter, she could see the white daylight. She had promised her parents she would take care of the cottage and seeing the bottles and cans spread all around the room, she thought that by the end of their stay, there wouldn't be much left of it. Suddenly, her gaze fell on the opposite couch, where Brittany and Santana were sleeping peacefully; hidden with only a blanket that somebody had placed over them. Their clothes were on the floor. Mercedes stared at them for a while before turning her head toward Tina who was moving next to her.

"Oh my god, _my head,_" she whined, sitting up not without difficulty.

Besides her, Artie was also waking up with difficulty. When they were both awake, they observed Brittany and Santana with stupor.

"Don't say a word, Tina," Mercedes said just when the girl was opening her mouth to say something. "Let's just go find something to eat."

She helped her put Artie back in his wheelchair and Tina glared at him when his attention lingered a bit too long on the two young women. It looked like he thought he would be able to see through the blanket if he put enough motivation into it. Mercedes left them alone and walked toward the kitchen.

Rachel was already there, washed up, her hair styled up and dressed up. When Mercedes walked in the room, she quickly looked up and only her dark rings betrayed her hangover.

"Oh, good morning, Mercedes! Not any headache I hope? Since coffee is strongly discouraged after a party, I made tea, orange juice and some hot chocolate! You don't mind if I looked through your provisions in the attic, right? I found fruits, bacon, eggs, bread, cereals and marmalade! Here, take a seat. So, what do you want to drink?"

Mercedes stared at her in disbelief.

"Wait a second, Rachel. Since _when _are you up?"

"Oh, I don't know, an hour or so," the brunette said with enthusiasm, placing a plate of eggs down the table. "Is tea okay?"

The other girl gave one last perplex look.

"Yes, thank you."

The table was ready, a nice smell of orange and bacon was floating in the air. Mercedes was having a hard time waking up completely, but she knew she was starving, so she didn't have to be asked twice when Rachel offered her some bread.

"You cleaned the entire kitchen?" She asked, buttering a slice of bread with a tired hand.

"Yes, but I didn't have time to take care of all the bottles in the house."

She looked really upset as she turned around to turn the bacon in the frying pan.

"Bloody hell, it's even cleaner than when I cleaned up yesterday," Mercedes mumbled before biting into her slice of bread.

Artie and Tina walked in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Tina, Artie! Here Artie, settle down between those chairs. Are you hungry? Do you want hot chocolate, milk, tea? I hope you like eggs and bacon, otherwise there are some fruits and…"

She was still talking and the couple sent a questioning look to Mercedes. This one simply shrugged before focusing on her slice of bread.

"A cup of chocolate will be fine." Artie said on a slightly scared tone.

"Orange juice, but I can get it myself, thank you," Tina answered with a bright smile for the brunette.

"Alright, suit yourself. Enjoy your meal and tell me if you need anything," she said before going back to her frying pans.

Artie and Tina exchanged one last look before taking some of everything that was on the table.

"Alright, I'll be back in about ten minutes," she said, turning off the gas and placing the last slices of bacon on the table. "I'll cook more later if there's not enough for everybody."

"Rachel, hold on!" Mercedes said, standing up quickly, embarrassed that the girl wear herself out cleaning the cottage when it was hers. "I'm gonna help you."

Rachel accepted her help with a smile and they left Artie and Tina alone with the smoking bacon. The cottage's wooden floor was cracking under their feet and they feared to wake them all with the slightest move. Mike, Sam and Puck were on the floor, near the hi-fi system, Finn was in one of the couches, and Rachel ignored the look Mercedes sent to Santana and Brittany as they walked by. Usually, the two girls would find a quiet and empty room when their desire couldn't wait for the party to be over to be satisfied (which happened quite a lot), and it was very unusual to have the proof that they had done more than kissing during the party right under their nose. Given that Mercedes was a huge gossip; her curiosity could only be satisfied when everything had been said. But seeing Rachel's elusive look, she decided to leave her alone.

They started with the first floor. The three boys lined up against the wall were growling in their sleep, and Finn sometimes mumbled something, turning in the sofa, but they managed to pick up all of the bottles and the empty glasses (or sometimes half filled) without waking them up. They went back to the kitchen to place everything on the counter, under Artie and Tina's surprised looks who hadn't realized how much they had drank last night. Then, they went upstairs, walking as silently as possible.

With an upset hiss, Mercedes noticed that someone had let the bedside lamp turned on all night long on the floor, and that the light bulb was burnt. Rachel stepped forward to pick up the empty bottle placed on the floor beside the bed and stopped a moment to observe Quinn. The young girl was sprawled all over the mattress, laid on her stomach and her shoes still on. Her cardigan had slipped of her shoulders and was revealing her pale skin. Her messy hair only showed her peaceful smile.

Rachel had woken up next to her this morning, but she couldn't remember why.

"Rachel?" Mercedes asked in a whisper.

The young girl quickly turned around. The Afro-American was waiting for her in the doorframe, some empty bottles in her arms. She glanced at Kurt and Blaine before joining her.

They walked through the first floor as discreetly as possible and entered the kitchen just when the three boys aligned against the wall were starting to move. Mike was the first who tried to stand up, a whine escaping his lips as he held onto the piece of furniture next to him. He glanced at his watch and softly kicked Sam to wake him up, who then turned to Puck to wake him up as well with hard slaps. They both stood up and, as they were heading toward the kitchen where they would hear voices, their gaze landed on Brittany and Santana.

"Oh no…" Sam mumbled with wide eyes.

"They forbid me to take a look but they do it when I'm right next to her, drunk?" Puck said with a whine.

Mike walked toward them both and hit them both behind the head.

"Come on, perverts, let them sleep."

"But they're lesbians, they won't mind…"

"Lesbian or not, Santana will kill you if she ever learns you took advantage of the situation to check her out," Sam admitted. "She will send you straight to Hell if she finds out you checked Brittany out as well."

"There, that's what I wanted to hear," Mike said, pushing them both toward the kitchen's door.

They were welcomed by sleepy greetings and a hyper Rachel.

"Good morning, boys, did you sleep well? So, I made some…"

"I got it, Rachel," Mercedes interrupted her with a bossy voice.

The diva sent her a glare before going back to her eggs and bacon. Puck sneaked up behind her and stole a slice.

"Noah!" Rachel said on an exasperated tone, agitating her spatula with a threatening look.

He just laughed and took a glass on the sideboard to pour himself some milk.

"Good morning, everyone!" Blaine said enthusiastically as he walked into the room, Kurt holding his hand.

They both had messy hair and looked extremely tired. Kurt had this facial expression dissuading anyone to come near him. He fell on the chair near Mercedes without a word. Blaine sat beside him and immediately offered him some of the food that was on the table.

"Hmmmm…. I'll be fine, Blaine…" Kurt mumbled, blinking several times to try and stay awake.

He grabbed a slice of bread in Mercedes' plate and started to chew on it.

"Wow, Kurt!" She said, staring at him. "Remind me next time to stop you from drinking alcohol!"

"You look like a zombie," Tina noticed.

Kurt glared at her, too tired, tough, for it to be scary.

"A classy zombie," Artie added with a smile.

Kurt answered him with a growl.

"So, Mercedes, what's the program today?" Sam asked, sitting on the counter, beside Mike.

"First, we're gonna go to the water tower to check there is no problem."

"All of us?" Mike asked, biting in his bread.

"The lake is right next to it," the young girl précised with a smile. "I'm sure you have nothing against a good swim?"

"Of course we don't!" Puck said enthusiastically.

"Raaaaah, Puckerman, shut up," Kurt groaned out, placing a hand on his forehead. "My head is killing me…"

Puck stepped closer and after a moment of silence, leaned down to shout in his ear:

"If you got wasted more often, you'd be used to it, Hummel!"

Kurt threw his half eaten slice of bread in his face.

That's the moment Finn chose to make his entrance. Rachel bounced toward him.

"Heeeey," she greeted him with a soft smile.

Without a word, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. Sam couldn't stop the smile that formed on his lips at the sight.

"Do you want some tea?" She whispered before pecking his lips.

"Oh, yes, please." He said before sitting beside Tina.

"So Hudson, can't hold your drink?" Puck said with a smirk.

"Shut it, Puck," Finn said furrowing his brows as Rachel placed a cup of tea in front of him. "Not when I'm hangover."

He leaned back a bit to let the diva settle down his lap and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"By the way," Mercedes said. "I will strangle the first to make a double-meaning remark when Brittany and Santana walk in.

Tina glared at Puck who raised his hands in defense.

"Eh, I'm over-excited but not stupid!" I won't do it!"

"You better. And same for all of you, guys," Mercedes said, turning toward Mike and Sam.

The two simply smiled innocently.

"I don't see why you think we're capable of such thing," Mike answered with a shrug.

"You're boys. Better safe than sorry."

"Oh, so cliché," Kurt mumbled.

Mercedes sent him a glare.

"What, I'm trying to join in the conversation."

…

…

…

Santana opened her eyes slowly. Her head was spinning. It took her a while to remember where she was. Two couches in front of her, a coffee table, an old TV… Brittany moved underneath her and Santana observed her sleeping face with adoration.

She ran her fingers along her neck, her chest, her stomach, and observed a moment the way her belly was raising with her breathing's rhythm. She placed a soft kiss on her lips, which Brittany answered to, still dozing.

She heard voices. Voices… Voices?

"_!Maldita sea!_" She hissed, quickly sitting up, holding the cover around her trembling fingers.

Brittany sat up, too, confused.

"What's wrong, San?" She asked on a sleepy voice.

Her scared eyes turned toward Brittany.

"What did we do last night?" She whispered on a frightened tone.

The blonde observed her carefully, her face only inches away, before leaning over to kiss her tenderly.

"What we do every night, I suppose," she answered, pulling away.

Santana was too panicked to even think of blushing.

"But… But… What if we did it in front of everyone? What if we were too drunk to even realize they were all here?"

She glanced at the clothes lying on the floor.

"Oh my God, someone even took the time to gather her clothes. And… Shit, where does this blanket come from?"

She buried her face in her hand, trying to hide away from Brittany. The confidence she had felt last night after Quinn's words was long gone.

She would never make it.

"San, they were probably just as drunk and didn't pay attention." The blonde murmured on a reassuring tone.

Santana shook her head no. She had this awful image of her, ripping Brittany's clothes off, with all of their friends around them, glancing at them as they continued to dance. She looked up and as greeted by Brittany's joyful and comforting face.

"Britt, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" She sadly breathed out.

She closed her eyes, trying to find the right words.

"I such a _horrible _girlfriend," she continued. "But… I can't do it. It's the first we find ourselves with the entire glee club with nowhere to hide. Goddamnit, we can't even be alone on the patio!"

She opened her eyes back and locked them with Brittany's.

"But I'm gonna try harder, alright? I don't want you to think that I am ashamed of you. I'm just… ashamed of me."

Brittany smiled sadly at her before pulling her into a hug.

"You shouldn't be, San. You shouldn't think of that, but of the fact that I love you. Don't you find it better to think about the people who love you?"

Santana nodded slowly against her shoulder, reluctantly pulling away.

"It's not that hugging you bothers me, but we should probably get dressed before someone walks in." She stated.

Brittany beamed seeing her girlfriend's mocking smirk. They quickly got dressed, and when Brittany reached out for her hoodie, Santana handed her her shirt.

"Girlfriends share their clothes." She whispered.

The smile the blonde gave her in that moment convinced her that it was all worth it. She put the hoodie on and turned nervously toward the kitchen. She didn't remember everything that happened the night before and her throat was knotted at the idea that she might have done things the rest of the group wouldn't fail to remind her as soon as she would walk in. She could already see Puck's look on her.

Brittany took her hand and with one last smile, pulled her toward the door.

"Good morning, girls!" Mercedes greeted them." Slept well?"

Santana nodded slowly, slightly defensively, and Brittany smiled at Mercedes with a nod. The Latina scanned the room with worried eyes, looking for any kind of reaction betraying that _they knew_… When she looked at them, Mike and Sam smiled, and Puck raised his glass of milk in her direction as a greeting.

"Come and sit," Rachel encouraged them. "I can make more if there's not enough but I made bacon…"

"Eggs, bread, orange juice, tea, cereals, and all of the above, thank you Rachel." Kurt mumbled.

The diva sent him a pout. The boy looked like he was having a hard time waking up. Seeing as nobody was treating them differently, Santana felt more relaxed and found the courage to pull Brittany toward the last empty chair. She asked her to sit on her lap with one look and the blonde happily accepted, wrapping her arms around her neck and kissing her on the cheek.

…

…

…

Quinn tapped the mattress on her right. Her fingers, still numb from sleep, were met by rumpled sheets. She was cold. Her head arose from under the sheets and she stretched an arm to look at her watch. It was almost noon.

Her memories from last night were kind of blurry, but if there was one thing she remembered perfectly, it was the way she had kissed Rachel, desperately wanting her to understand she didn't hate her. She touched her lips and butterflies came flying in her stomach. She also remembered ending up in bed with the young girl sleeping against her.

She turned on her back and stared at the ceiling. How was she supposed to act indifferent toward the diva now that she knew there was more on her side?

She knew she shouldn't have come.

The bedroom was so silent it would have been relaxing if Quinn hadn't been torturing herself by thinking back about all the things that happened the previous night. It wasn't a big deal when we thought of it, but she still felt like she had missed something important. She didn't know what, but the idea that all of her efforts to hide her feelings during all these years had been ruined in only a minute, was giving her a headache.

"_You're going to Hell." _

This made her want to laugh. She already felt like she was in Hell.

Quinn dragged herself out of bed and stood in the middle of the room for a minute, time for her to remember how to keep her balance. She took off her cardigan, trying to get rid of the scotch's smell, threw it on the floor and walked down the stairs.

The first floor was clean and like nothing happened, and she could hear snatches of conversation coming from the kitchen. She lazily stepped in the doorway.

"Yo, Baby Mama!" Puck exclaimed.

Quinn sent him an emotionless look while the others were greeting her loudly.

"Did you sleep well?" Mike asked with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah," she mumbled.

Her attention immediately fell on Rachel, comfortably settled on Finn's lap. The young girl sent her a shy smile and by the way she was looking at her, Quinn instantly knew that she didn't remember anything. She suddenly felt like Jim Carrey in _Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. _She didn't know anymore whether she should be happy about it or not.

"Come and sit, Quinn." Sam offered gently, tapping the place next to him, on the counter.

The blonde grabbed an orange on the table and joined him.

"Thanks…" She said on a weak voice.

"You okay?" He asked, concerned.

"Just really hangover…" She mumbled, carefully peeling the fruit.

The way Sam was being so concerned about her was annoying her. He should have fallen in love with someone who was worth it. She did her best to ignore Mike's worried look.

"Anyway, for those who weren't there or didn't listen, the program is simple!" Mercedes exclaimed. "We finish our breakfast, we go check there's no problem with the tower water and we take advantage of it to go for a swim in the lake. Then, if Brittany and Finn are okay with it, it would be nice of them to show you one last time how to use the equipment to avoid any risk once in the cave. As for tonight…"

She turned to look at Puck. He was leaning against the wall near the door, and he stared back at her with his usual derisive look.

"… No party. You have to be fresh and rested for tomorrow. When I see Kurt, I'm scared."

The boy looked up from his plate to glare daggers at her.

"To make sure he doesn't drown in the lake by falling asleep in it, I propose a collective nap," Blaine said, raising his hand.

Sam and Puck exchanged a puzzled look.

"That's a very good idea," Tina congratulated with a yawn.

"And those who don't want to can stay downstairs," Kurt added with a threatening look.

"Meanwhile, fellow Glee members, I say we all enjoy this improvised brunch that I cooked with attention and diligence, and I also with you an excellent day!" Rachel said with a bright smile.

"Thank you, Rachel!" Brittany said enthusiastically.

"Thank you, Rachel!" They all said.

…

…

…

As soon as they were done eating, the girls rushed toward the bathroom, while the boys said that the lake would make a good shower. Only Kurt, Blaine, Mike and Artie patiently waited for them to be done to go shower.

"Careful girls, you can take your shower together if you like," Mercedes said from the other side of the bathroom. "But if it takes forever, I pull you out of here, naked or not."

Santana stopped removing her make-up and turned away from the mirror to give her a sinister look, wrapped in her towel.

"I never said I wanted to take my shower with Britt." She said, very slowly.

Brittany, sat on the window's edge, looked up like she had just been torn off a dream.

"We're only girls," Tina spoke, contemplating herself in the mirror near Mercedes'. "You don't have to worry about it."

"Listen, _Jacqueline Chan, _I…"

"Go in." Quinn interrupted.

Santana stared at her, completely stunned, and the blonde looked at her like "It's not like it never happened before anyway… But we don't have to talk about it" before pretending to apply some make-up remover on her cotton.

"Fine. Ok." She said.

The three girls pretended to have better to do as the Latina turned around and invited Brittany to follow her, raising a suggestive eyebrow. The shower cubicle closed on them with a loud noise and their towels were thrown over the blurry glass.

"I don't even know why we allow that kind of stuff," Mercedes sighed with an amused smile, leaning toward the mirror to apply some mascara.

"Maybe they're just going to be in the same shower and nothing will happen," Tina suggested.

"Poor girl," Quinn murmured with a condescending smile. "It's Brittany and Santana we're talking about."

The water spurt's whistling choked Tina's shocked answer.

"I hanged out with them a lot," Quinn replied, looking at her. _I know. _

"I think that as long as they're happy, that's all that matters," Mercedes concluded with a shrug.

Tina nodded with a smile and Quinn went in one of the three cubicles to take her own shower.

"By the way," Tina said on a low tone. "Do you know what the matter with Quinn is?"

"You mean, why does she look so sad ever since we got here?"

The other girl nodded anxiously.

"I don't know…"

"Do you think it has something to do with Finn?"

"Oh my god, it's been over a year," Mercedes immediately said.

"Or Puck?"

"They don't seem to have talked ever since Beth was born, I don't think so…"

"Well, did she see…"

"… Beth again?"

"Yes."

Mercedes furrowed her brows, slightly upset.

"Honestly, I have no idea. She doesn't share a lot, you know? It's impossible to know. She would have started to date Sam during holidays that I wouldn't even know about it. I mean… _No one _knows what she did last month. Santana and Brittany won't talk about it but I know they know just as much as the rest of us."

Tina laid sad eyes on the cubicle where Quinn was showering.

"It's not that I regret the time when she was insulting us or throwing slushies at us in the hallway," she whispered. "But I wonder where she's gone. She's so calm now."

Mercedes looked at her, thoughtfully.

"Maybe it'll get better with this week around all of us."

…

…

…

Mercedes, Tina, Kurt and Blaine had all fallen asleep on the king-sized bed, Mike and Quinn were reading a book on the couch, and all of their sleeping bags were sprawled on the floor to make it comfier. Rachel was stretched out in a corner and had just fallen asleep, as Brittany and Santana were sharing a sleeping bag, on the opposite side of the room. The Latina had laid her head on the blonde's chest and wrapped a protective arm around her waist. She was still wearing her cheerios' hoodie and, taking a glance above her book, Quinn caught a glimpse of her peaceful smile.

The others had decided to stay downstairs and play cards, gathered around the livingroom's coffee table. Artie and Sam were playing against Puck and Finn, and were wining so far.

"Dude, that's not cool!" Noah whined as Sam revealed his cards.

"That's the game, Puckerman. Deal with it." Artie said with a mocking smile.

"Preach," Same added and they high-fived.

"Too bad, Burt's not here," Finn mumbled. "At least he knows how to play."

"Aw, you need Daddy Hummel to help you win this game?" Puck mocked.

"Hey, you're supposed to be on my side, remember!" The boy retorted, trying to slap him behind the head.

The Mohawk boy avoided it easily and sneered before throwing his cards on the table.

"And we lose again!" He said joyfully.

"Can't we play another game?" Finn asked with a pout.

"Oh please, Finnessa! We all know you even suck at playing Xbox!"

"That's not true! I'm not that bad…"

"… just ask Rach," Puck finished for him in a perfect imitation. "Yeah I know, because all you do when your girlfriend comes over is play video games, while she just watches you."

"No," Finn retorted. "We make out, too…"

"Dudes," Sam interrupted. "I know it's the kind of conversation we're supposed to have between us and about girls, but if we could just avoid talking about Rachel that way, it would be nice."

"She's adorable, don't talk about what you two do in private," Artie added, mixing up the cards.

Finn glared at Puck.

"Yeah, let's just focus on losing this game," the boy said with irony.

…

…

…

Artie and Sam's loud acclamations as they were winning yet again, reached the second floor.

"Why don't you go play with them?" Quinn whispered with an emotionless expression.

Mike looked away from his book to stare at her.

"Boys can read, too, you know?" He eventually answered with a mischievous smile.

"Really, Chang? You think I'm gonna believe that?"

"That we can read? Well, Sam is dyslexic but he still can read, so anyone can. Even Finn I guess."

He had added this remark hoping to make her smile. It worked, even though she hid behind her book.

"But now that you mention it, we could talk." He added, closing his book.

She sent him a suspicious look over her book.

"About what?"

He shrugged, turning completely toward her.

"About anything you want."

Her eyes landed back on the paragraph she was reading.

"I don't want to talk."

"Why not?"

"Because. This kind of open conversation always ends up badly with me."

"We can talk about you, then. That's an accurate subject."

She stopped and looked up slowly, contemplating him without a word.

"I don't want to talk about me. What's the point?"

Mike remained silent.

"We can talk about you." She continued with an annoyed sigh. "It'll be much more interesting."

"You already know everything."

She stared at him, not adding anything.

…

…

_Mike opened the door, out of breath after running through the Chang family's house to come and see who it was._

"_Quinn?" He stuttered, observing her in surprise._

_It was pouring down outside and the young girl was drenched. Her summer dress was sticking to her skin and her wet hair was a mess. It was hard to say whether she had cried or if it was only rain. She smiled nervously at him._

"_I'm sorry to bother you, Mike," she started in a rush. "But I saw on Facebook that your parents weren't here today and so I thought that you wouldn't mind if I was coming without telling you before."_

"_But…what are you doing here?" He managed to say, completely confused._

"_I… I don't even know…" She mumbled, looking down at her feet, before looking back at him. "I thought of you instantly and even though I know we don't talk that much, I thought you wouldn't mind if I was coming to see you…"_

"Quinn! _What's going on?"_

"_Do we really have to talk about it?" She whispered on a begging tone. "Can't you just let me in?"_

_He opened the door wider to let her in and she hesitantly walked in. Mike closed the door behind her and observed her an instant, standing there, freezing cold in the middle of the hall. _

"_Quinn, do you want me to call someone? Your mom maybe?"_

_The blonde's hazel eyes widened in horror._

"_No, absolutely not."_

"_But...did you run all the way here?"_

_She shrugged._

"_Kind of."_

_He eyeballed her, puzzled, before showing her the way to his room. She flopped down his bed that she immediately wetted as well. Mike went to take her a towel as she was taking in the room._

"_Here, take this."_

"_Thank you…" She said on a weak voice, wrapping herself in the towel, shivering._

_He sat down beside her and observed her for a second, not saying anything. She kept her eyes fixed ahead of her, as if she had awful images running through her mind. Mike wondered what could have happened to her._

"_Hm…" He eventually said. "Don't you wanna change? If you want I can give you one of my mom's old tracksuits…"_

_She looked at him in silence, defensively. _

"_Alright…" She ended up saying._

_He walked out of the room after giving it to her, time for her to get changed. _

"_Eh! You look great!" He said with a smile. _

_She handed him her wet dress, raising en eyebrow at him._

"_Very funny." She mumbled with a disillusioned smile before sitting back on the bed._

_Mike went to put her dress to dry and came back to find her looking through his Xbox games' collection._

"_Hey! What are you doing?"_

_She didn't even look up._

"_Just looking."_

_He stood still in the doorway, and she continued to look over all of his video games. He eventually built up the courage to step in and sit back next to her. _

"_Quinn, why did you come here?" He eventually asked. _

_The blonde kept this same busy look, playing with the games' jackets. _

"_I don't see where else I could have gone."_

"_What do you mean?"_

_She stopped her inspection and turned her gaze toward him._

"_They all hate me. I never answer their texts, when I meet them in the street –because it's impossible not to when you live in such a small town- I almost hide behind a bush so they won't see me. I'm the bitch I always was and I continue to be."_

_She sighed, contemplating her towel with a gloomy look._

"_Why do you do that?" Mike asked with curiosity._

"_I don't know how to act around them…"_

_The ex-HBIC looked up and Mike noticed the tears on the corners of her eyes._

"… _I mean…what's the point? Our paths went different directions the moment we graduated. They're all gonna leave, they're all going to leave me here. And I am already too emotionally attached to them not to care…"_

_She paused, clearly having some difficulties to continue. She was holding back the tears the best she could, but the battle was already lost._

"_It hurts _so _much!" She shouted with a sob._

_Before realizing what he was doing, Mike wrapped an arm around her shaking body and pulled her gently against him._

"_Hey, it's gonna be okay…" He whispered, rubbing her shoulder._

_He hadn't seen Quinn Fabray cry very often. As far as he remembered, the first time he saw her cry was when they had sung _Keep Holding On _and that her world was falling apart. He had always kept his distance with the one some liked to call "the Praying Mantis", but in that moment he wanted only one thing: to hold her tight and tell her everything would be alright. _

_Even if it wasn't true._

"_All good things come to an end," he told her. "But that doesn't mean there aren't better things waiting for us."_

_She didn't answer and just kept on sobbing. _

_They stayed like this for what seemed like forever, Quinn crying against Mike, and the boy holding her shaking shoulders as best as he could. The rain was still pouring down the streets, and the droplets sliding along his window were echoing Quinn's sorrow. Outside, the grey and gloomy landscape seemed to be even darker than when the young girl had knocked on his door. _

_She eventually calmed down and when Mike's watch indicated 5pm, she was crying silently, her face buried in his shirt._

_She sat up slowly and sniffled, looking out his window. _

"_Do you want a tissue?"_

"_Yes, thank you…"_

_She blew her nose and threw the Kleenex in the bin placed near Mike's desk. Quinn had never looked so tired._

"_Do you like video games?" He asked after a moment of hesitation. _

_She landed her red eyes on him._

"_Is a girl who likes video games a bad thing?"_

"_No."_

"_Then yes," she said with a weak smile._

"_Do you want to play Xbox?"_

"_Of course…"_

"_Ever heard of Resident Evil?"_

"_Ever heard of Mario?" She answered with irony._

_Quinn came back the next day to take her revenge on Mike._

…

…

Quinn shrugged.

"Then let's not talk."

"Do you hate me ever since I told you I was going to study in New York?"

The blonde didn't show any kind of emotion.

"I don't care where you go. It doesn't matter anymore now."

"It's not what you were saying the first time you came over."

"I thought we agreed to never talk about it."

"Tacitly it's not enough."

"Mike, I thought we both knew why I was coming over."

"To act like geeks?"

"Exactly."

"So that's the kind of friendship you're looking for?" Mike asked with a fake understanding pout. "Like "sex friends" but in friendship?"

"Not now."

"Yes, now."

"Not now."

Mike smiled before opening back his book.

"You won't fool me, Quinn. I know who you are now."

"Nobody knows me. Neither do you, don't think otherwise."

The relaxed boy didn't flinch, and he only shrugged before going back into is reading.

"About time they shut their mouth…" Santana sighed, snuggling up closer to Brittany.

The dancer smiled in happiness before closing her eyes.


End file.
